Turning Points
by AuroraKnight
Summary: Everything comes tumbling down on Clark at once. His friends not only learn his secret but gain powers to match. Whitney and Lana become lab rats for Lionel's evil scheme, and an evil Jor-el uses one last resort to bend Clark to his will. Chlark R
1. Breaking Down Barriers

**Disclaimer**: Smallville belongs to Al Gough & Miles Millar, as well as the CW. Superman is copyright Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and remains the property of DC Comics. I intend no infringement.

This chapter's most recent update is November 25, 2009.

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Breaking Down Barriers**_

A lonely sigh resonated through the cool midnight air, its source a distraught Clark Kent. His fingers fiddled with the telescope and he glanced down at it with disinterest. On clear nights like this one, Clark usually peered up into the starlit sky, gazing intently at the space where his planet used to be. But on a usual night, Clark's interest would have been piqued by curiosity rather than grief. Clark wasn't sure he could handle another night pondering why he was the last one left.

"Alone." Clark thought bitterly. "I'm always alone."

The scent of apple pie drifted into the loft, and he closed his eyes to savor it. After a minute of basking in the wonder of his mother's baking, Clark sighed. The fact that he could smell any scent from over a mile away was just another thing that made him...

"Alien." his brain supplied. Clark fidgeted uncomfortably. He certainly couldn't deny how well that word fit.

He had always been unnatural, but until a few years ago he had attributed that uniqueness to a mutation. A mutation meant he was still part of the same species as his friends and family. Discovering that he was not of this world was earth shattering. Learning that his arrival had been the catalyst for his hometown's devastation was even harder to swallow. But there was something worse than the guilt. A feeling of aching loneliness. He was the only survivor, and as such, he feared there was no one who could ever truly understand him.

He'd tried telling his friends. Clark could vividly remember Pete's reaction, especially his eyes. Pete's eyes had conveyed distrust, panic, and most importantly, a deeply reaching fear of the unknown.

It was a look Clark could live without seeing ever again. But he did see it. Even a year after telling Pete his secret, Clark had occasionally caught his friend staring when he thought Clark wasn't looking. Sometimes it was awe, other times it was something else.

He'd meant to tell Chloe. She and Pete had been his best friends for as long as he could remember. But after Pete's entire demeanor had changed, Clark had reconsidered. He wasn't sure he could handle _her_ looking at him that way, and now his opportunity was lost.

After a large spat between he and Chloe, she had started working for the enemy. Determined to find out what Clark was hiding, Chloe had begun investigating him, and handing over the information to Lionel. Well, he sure as hell couldn't tell her now. Not when he was in her cross-hairs.

A heavy sadness settled into his body. He wondered if it was depression. Clark snorted at the absurdity of being a depressed alien. He could almost imagine Chloe laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

As his thoughts began to cycle, a few small glimmers lit up the sky. At first Clark paid them no heed, but became interested as the glimmers became more frequent. A particularly bright light moved slowly across the sky and Clark decided to follow it.

He ran through the back roads, never taking his eyes off the flickering wonder. It finally faded over a large patch of grass, and Clark stopped.

"Clark?" A voice inquired.

Clark whipped around quickly and began to scan the area, a reflex he had developed from his parents' warnings to hide his abilities. During his analysis he caught a glimpse of Chloe leaning out the Torch window. His heart began to beat faster in panic. Had she seen anything?

"Chloe?" he stammered. "Um, hi."

Chloe smirked. "Hi. I see you've witnessed a part of tonight's star shower." she observed.

Clark began to form a response, but the words stuck in his throat. Chloe picked up on his reluctance to speak, and inserted her own words.

"I know what you're going to ask, Clark. What am I doing here at this time of night?" she said, "My dad is moving next week, so this edition is my last as editor. I gotta make it good, right?"

Clark couldn't help but smile at her friendly banter.

"Speaking of which, you passed in your article before you left school, so why are you here? Come to help me edit? Bring me a coffee, maybe?"

Clark laughed. "If I had known you'd wanted one, Chlo, I would have had it in my hand."

They let the silence permeate the air, not wanting to pollute the conversation with recent betrayal. But they could not pretend like they were the same Clark and Chloe. Things had changed, and the atmosphere suddenly took a turn for the worst.

"Really, though, jokes aside. What are you doing out here, Clark?"

His eyes glistened darkly, and bitterness crept into his voice.

"Depends, Chloe. Is it on the record?"

"Clark, I...you know it's never on the record."

That was too much for him. His muscles tensed and he felt the retort leave his lips before his brain ever registered it.

"Oh really? This conversation isn't being transcribed for Lionel to read?"

"Now come on, Clark. That's just not fair."

"What's not fair about it, the fact that I'm calling you on it, or the fact that I found out? Pick your choice."

"And how exactly _did_ you find out, Clark? Did you spy on me? Because in case you haven't noticed, you have this nasty little habit of having a double standard."

With her acrimonious words stinging Clark like a slap to the cheek, she turned away, furious. But confusion momentarily drowned her rage when she looked back to find Clark gone. She angrily grabbed her coat and shut down her computer. Clark had soured her mood for editing. She could finish the last touches in the morning.

The tap of her shoes resonated through the hallway and the door creaked as Chloe headed outside into the warm, sultry night. She was halfway to her car when she ran into something solid and...red? One of her manicured nails broke on impact and a dull ache began to spread through her hand.

"Clark?" she questioned acidly. "What are you made of, steel?"

"Are you okay?" he asked hurriedly, avoiding her second question.

"I'm fine. I thought you left."

"I was going to, but..."

He sighed.

"Chloe, I think we need to talk."


	2. Friends Again

Chloe tapped her fingers impatiently on the wooden arm of Clark's desk chair while Clark slouched on the couch. Neither wanted to be the first to break the silence. Finally Chloe surrendered and said the words they'd both been thinking.

"Now what?"

"I…don't know." Clark conceded.

"Didn't really think this through, did you?"

Clark fidgeted, running a hand through his hair. "No. I just wanted this to stop."

Chloe sighed with relief. "I do too."

Clark nodded. "Well, I guess we could start with why you were at the Torch so late."

"I had to get out of the house. Dad keeps asking me what's wrong. It's driving me crazy."

Clark raised an eyebrow. Chloe continued with her explanation.

"Ever since dad was fired, we've been hard pressed for money, and he's been talking about moving back to Metropolis where there's more employment. In fact, he wants to leave next week."

Clark's previous facial expression turned to surprise, but quickly returned to its calm state.

"Can't he just let you stay here and finish school?"

Chloe's eyes met Clark's with a very serious expression, the kind she had whenever Clark was being oblivious.

"Where would I stay, Clark? How would I get the money?"

She sighed, then started to twirl her hair. Chloe looked up at the ceiling, not wanting to meet Clark's eyes.

"For awhile, I tried to convince myself that it would be good for me to get away from everything, that I would be better off back in my old niche."

Clark tilted his head. "Somehow I'm sensing a but."

Chloe slumped back in her chair with an 'oof' and slowly met Clark's questioning baby blues.

He looked at her intently, familiar with the expression on her face. It was the one she used when she believed keeping things to herself was best.

"I've made friends here, and it's hard to start over again." she said simply.

"Chloe, you know I can see right through you." he said, aware of the unintentional double meaning.

"My feelings matter to you, even after everything that's happened?" she asked, disbelief lacing her tone.

"We're still friends, Chloe, even if we've been on the outs lately."

Chloe stood up and wandered casually to the loft window.

"Truth is, Clark, I don't know where to start."

Chloe sighed, idly deciding she had better begin somewhere.

"I don't know what to expect from you anymore. I don't even know how to react to you without fighting. In fact, there's only one thing constant about us, and that's the hurt we keep causing each other. If I were to move away, I'd miss you, but I wouldn't miss this parasitic friendship we've had lately."

Clark began to speak but Chloe cut him off.

"I need to tell you something, Clark, and I need you to understand it, even though you don't feel the same."

There was a pause, and a deep breath.

"I've cared about you a lot since I met you, but lately it started to go outside the realm of friendship. I had hoped the two of us could make it as a couple, but we didn't work out."

Clark sat quietly, contemplating her words.

"I know you don't harbor those feelings. I've accepted that, I respect it, and I will never cross those boundaries. That being said, I still depend on you a lot."

Chloe inhaled sharply. "You were my rock before all this happened, even though you didn't know it, and you brought out the best qualities in me. I thought that one day we might go back to that. Leaving Smallville behind, leaving _you_ behind, I wouldn't get the chance, and it would feel like I was missing a part of myself."

Both teens remained still as the significance of that confession rested heavily on their shoulders. Chloe half laughed, half sighed with relief that she'd managed to get out her words without tears.

"Chloe, why didn't you say something before?"

"Because I've seen the spark between you and Lana, Clark, and I don't want to get in the way of that. I want you to be happy. But in your pursuit of a relationship, you've pushed us apart. These past months I've felt more like a search engine than a friend. The distance between us was large enough. I didn't want to add fuel to the fire."

"You could have told me that I was hurting you."

Chloe snorted. "Would you have listened? Pete and I understood you and Lana were getting serious and we gave you room to discover what you could have together. You repaid us with neglect. Furthermore, you let Lana get away with needling you about your secret while you scolded the rest of us. You may not know this, but I accept that you have secrets; it's a part of what makes you who you are. But Lana, can't you see that she itches to know? She wants to find you out at all costs: to have all of you or none. Yet you direct your hostility at _me_." Chloe exclaimed, letting her temper get the best of her.

"If you really accepted me, Chloe, you wouldn't have been working overtime to get the details on my life, just so you could feed them to the sharks." Clark said, as he, too, let his temper rise.

Chloe's eyes went wide. "That's below the belt, Clark."

"And attacking Lana isn't? She's not here to defend herself, Chloe."

"Well maybe if you weren't so caught up with catering to her every whim you would have noticed that others have feelings too; you would have realized that you were hurting me."

Clark thought for a moment.

"This is about homecoming, isn't it?"

"Nice try, but no. Rather egotistical of you to think that." Chloe shot.

But Clark knew that her defensiveness meant he had hit a sore spot.

"I apologized for that."

Chloe's fists clenched in anger, and her face contorted with rage. The feeling of wanting to tear down Clark's righteous indignation rose until finally it would be repressed no more.

"You still left me halfway through homecoming and didn't even come back to tell me whether you were ok or not." Chloe spat.

"You didn't let me explain."

"I knew where you were, Clark. But you could have let me know that you were okay."

"If I hadn't been there..."

"I know, you never would have found Lana. But once you knew she was safe, you should have at least called me. You would have if you cared at all."

Chloe sighed. She really hadn't meant for all this to be drudged up again, but now that it was, she had the opportunity to ask something she'd been wanting an answer to for awhile.

"Just answer me something." she said cooly, "Did you ever really have any feelings for me, or did you just take me to homecoming to humor me?"

"You...you think I took you to homecoming as a _favor_? To let you down easy?" Clark said, taken aback. He shook his head in disbelief. "And you call us friends..."

The offended teen paused for a second, deep in thought, before continuing.

"It seems that your unwavering faith in me crumbles whenever it's put to the test, Chloe. Where was that faith when you teamed up with Lionel to investigate my life? And how can I believe you accepted me, secrets and all, with that fact towering over us? Did you want to know my secret so badly you'd betray a friendship instead of waiting for me to be ready to tell you?"

Chloe glared at Clark. "That just goes to show how little you know about me, Clark. Lionel tricked me. He offered me computers for the Torch. He gave me a column at the Daily Planet. His intentions seemed genuine. I thought he cared when no one else did."

"And if you got the dirt on your friend then was an added bonus." Clark continued, cutting her off.

Chloe let out a sigh of exasperation before answering honestly.

"He never asked me to dig up dirt on you until after the deal was sealed. This wasn't part of the retirement package. I didn't know there were strings."

Clark practically laughed at the absurdity of Chloe's statement.

"Chloe, this is Lionel Luthor we're talking about. I find it hard to believe that someone as perceptive as you wouldn't be suspicious of his intentions." Clark's face darkened. "I find it easier to believe that you stopped caring about the consequences."

"So what if I did? This is life, Clark. The only person who takes care of me is me. And for once, my life was going great. Maybe I didn't care, the world be damned, because it meant that something would go right for me for a change."

Clark was rendered speechless. It was as if the caring, empathetic Chloe he'd come to know and love had been replaced with a mean, selfish void of a human being.

Chloe sighed and began to rub at her soon to be watering eyes.

"I know I was wrong, Clark. He caught me at my breaking point, and anything looked better than the rut I was in. Now I can't get out of his grip, and I don't know what to do."

"What did you tell him?" Clark demanded.

"Nothing."

Clark cocked his eyebrow.

"Nothing that he didn't already know." Chloe added.

Clark turned away, clearly conflicted. Chloe closed the gap between them, placed her hand gently on his shoulder and moving him to face her. Eyes glistened with tears waiting to fall and Chloe composed herself before attempting her apology.

"Clark I know I made a mistake, but I can't change what I've done. I can only say I'm sorry so many times."

Clark's eyes betrayed hurt and regret at that statement. He looked away, not wanting to see the pain in her eyes as he said his thoughts aloud.

"I know you're sorry, Chloe, but I'm not sure I can accept your apology yet. I'm trying, I really am, but it's too hard to forgive you right now."

Chloe looked up with reddening eyes. The hand previously grasping Clark's shoulder dropped limply to her side and she steeled herself up to say her piece.

"Well, thanks Clark, for proving me right once again. That the world revolves around you and that will never change. I don't want your forgiveness, oh mighty one. But it wouldn't hurt you to show some compassion once in a while."

A stunned expression forced its way across Clark's face as he registered Chloe's outburst.

Chloe looked up. "Anyway, I'm leaving. I've had more than enough guilt trips for one day. At least now I know I can leave without regrets."

She began to walk down the stairs with tears she'd denied for so long forcing their way down her face. A pang of regret and a sharp throb of guilt shot through Clark, and he realized he may have been a little too harsh. After all, he _had_ initiated their tense conversation.

"Chloe, wait!" Clark exclaimed.

Chloe turned her head. Her mascara had run, leaving black circles around her eyes.

"No! I'm not playing this game with you anymore Clark! I've had enough!" She yelled, quickening her pace.

Clark could hear the second hand on the clock ticking as time counted down. His world appeared to revert to slow motion as an epiphany struck. This was the pivotal moment, after which, there would be no turning back. It was his last chance to salvage their friendship or leave Chloe alone for good. As angry as he was, Clark could find no gratification in letting a petty argument tear them apart.

In truth, he knew he should let her go, to free her from the danger and deception that had become his life, but he also knew he wasn't strong enough. Chloe was his best friend and confidante after Pete, and he couldn't let her leave without feeling a great deal of regret, especially with such horrible parting words.

"Wait!" he yelled, but she wouldn't slow down. He heard her reach her vehicle and fiddle with her keys.

Clark ran down the stairs and out the door frantically, desperate to catch her before she left for good. He stopped at her side, a soft 'whoosh' hanging in the air, and placed his arm on her shoulder. "Chloe, I'm sorry."

Chloe looked at Clark and then burst into large sobs. Clark clearly hadn't registered that he'd revealed some of his secret, only serving to remind her of how one-sided their friendship was.

Speaking was difficult, but she managed it long enough to spit out the words, "Save it, Clark."

"At least let me say one thing before you leave."

She stopped. "What," she said sharply.

Clark swallowed and prepared himself for what he had to say. "I know I haven't always done the right thing when it comes to us, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you, again."

He paused momentarily to compose his thoughts before continuing.

"But I can't let you leave, especially since I've only now realized..."

Chloe looked up sadly at his vibrant blue-green eyes, a woeful smile adorning her face. She placed her index finger to his lips, shushing him, and shook her head slightly. "Don't." she whispered, eyes pleading. "Don't."

Clark brushed Chloe's hand away in a frustration before throwing caution to the wind and drawing her into him, hugging her tightly but gently. "I'm sorry." he said softly. "You mean to much to me to let our friendship end like this, and for what it's worth, I think you were right."

Before she had the chance to ask what he meant, Clark pulled away, looking her directly in the eyes. "I think I did grow into you."

Chloe's eyes quivered with shock and embarrassment as feelings overwhelmed her self-control. Confused, but also determined, she quelled the wave of hope that had overcome her, and blinked away impending tears.

"Stop toying with me."

Clark's eyes reflected his hurt at that statement. "When you said..." he tried, eyes narrowing in frustration at words that wouldn't come. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes before breathing out again and attempting to form words. "It wasn't a favor, Chloe. I didn't humor you. I wanted to take you to homecoming."

The hope Chloe had struggled with suddenly burst to the forefront, making itself known in Chloe's sparkling eyes. She looked at Clark with apprehension but her face could not help but betray the happiness that lurked beneath.

"You agreed that we'd be better as friends." She stated simply, challenging his words.

Clark glanced at the ground before meeting her gaze. His eyes spoke volumes across the silence.

"That was a mistake." he said. "I wish I could take it back."

She could see the sincerity in his face, and in his body language, but she wasn't sure she had the strength to try again. The obstacles were numerous now, and she wondered how they'd ever overcome them.

"Can we go back?" she asked, at first unaware she had even voiced her concerns aloud.

Clark looked at her quizzically.

"Back to that moment, and make a different choice."

Clark's expression turned somber. "We can't change the past, Chloe."

Her expression reverted to one of indifference before she turned back to her car. "It's like I expected." She said coldly. Clark's hand gently grasped her upper arm, turning her around.

"But we can still shape the future," he said, eyes blazing with resolve. His expression darkened slightly before he turned away with a sigh. "I just think we have a lot to work through before that can happen."

Chloe nodded, finally understanding. "I know." she agreed, grasping his hands tenderly. "And I hope, that one day you'll find it in yourself to forgive me."

The two friends stood in silence, bathed by the pale moonlight, as the implications of their choices hung heavily in the air. Chloe shivered, and their trance was broken as she rubbed her hands gingerly over her arms, attempting to generate some heat. She figured now was as good a time as any to ask a question on her mind since Clark had appeared next to her.

"So, um, how did you get in front of me so fast?"

"I...uh...what?" Clark asked.

"You didn't think did you? You just ran out." Chloe said with a sigh. "It's okay, Clark. I don't expect an explanation, especially not after everything that's happened."

"It's not that simple." He admitted.

"I know." Chloe acknowledged reluctantly. "But you need to have more faith in me. I'm your friend, remember?"

"You said you trusted me to tell you when I was ready." Clark challenged. "So trust me."

Chloe couldn't help but smile slightly as she took Clark's arm and led him into the loft.

"Come on, Clark. Let's see if we can have a decent discussion without tearing each other's faces off this time."

Clark laughed. "First, let's get you a wet cloth for those eyes."

She grinned. "Amen to that."


	3. Can She Handle It?

**_Chapter 3 - Can she handle it?_**

Chloe was typing rapidly at her keyboard trying to finish the issue of the Torch. She had noticed a few errors and had to fix them before she printed it. It was next week's issue. It was sad to think she had to leave this life: that she might be gone in a week or so. The thought was interrupted as Pete waltzed into the office. "Chloe!" he exclaimed.

He looked absolutely ready to burst. "Out with it Ross," she said, grinning.

Clark walked in behind him, with Lana. Immediately Chloe felt her heart stop. "Lana," she thought. "When had that name become the bane of her existence?"

"Chloe, are you listening to me?"

"Oh, sorry Pete! What was it?"

"We're going to go camping tonight. You coming?"

"Well, I . . . "

"She'd love to," said Clark, poking her in the back.

"Well, when you put it that way, then I guess I am."

She was taken aback by how Clark wanted her to come along. Maybe things would turn out for the best after all.

After school, Chloe walked up the steps to the loft to find Clark sitting on the couch, looking up at the sky. She noticed his gorgeous eyes, shimmering the greenish blue haze that they were, and immediately he noted her presence. The Kent grin surfaced again. Clark had invited her there earlier.

"So, what's on the agenda?" Chloe asked.

"I wanted to talk with you about something."

"And that would be?"

"Well, I know I've been really secretive with you, and instead of just saying that I can't tell you, I wanted you to have the reasons why."

Chloe sighed. This could've been a good day.

"Clark, I would never judge you. I don't know exactly what this secret is that you're keeping but I already promised you that I would be there for you, and I would always accept you no matter what. You do know that, don't you?" Chloe asked.

"Yes," he replied. "Chloe, believe me when I say that I'd like to tell the world, to get this off my chest, but it wouldn't be fair, not to you or anyone. If you knew, if anyone knew, they would be in danger, and I can't do that to one of my friends. This secret is a large burden. Only people who have to know do."

"And would the natural weirdness that follows you around have to do with this? Or does it have to do with the fact that you literally appeared in front of my face yesterday?"

"You're not even supposed to know that much."

"What do you think I'm going to do, Clark? Post you up on my wall and charge admission? Sell you out to scientists?"

"Is it such a giant leap to think that?"

Chloe was shocked. "What? I would think that if the scientists really wanted to study meteor freaks that they could have their pick from Belle Reve. And besides that Clark, I am your friend, whether you believe me or not, and I would never do that to you."

Clark looked up. "I truly believe that you're my friend, but more importantly, you're something else – a journalist. Which one is stronger, Chloe? What would you rather: a friend or a story of a lifetime?"

Chloe flamed up again.

"Clark, this is hard for me to do: to break down the barriers between us only to hear from you that nothing's changed! I obviously know something, or else I couldn't be having this discussion with you. If I've kept it a secret this long and I've kept it from Lionel, what makes you think I'd betray you now?"

He looked at her questioningly. He was surprised that she knew anything more than she had seen yesterday. Perhaps he hadn't given her enough credit.

Tears started to come to Chloe's face.

"Besides the fact that your adoption papers are very suspicious, you're the town hero. I've lost count of the times you've been in the paper. What about the symbol burned on the side of your barn? And another thing is how you get to school so fast when you just missed the bus. Oh wait, I guess that one's solved. But still, there're too many weird occurrences around you to ignore. And that's not the brunt of it. Clark, I saw your father punch you with meteor rock that day he was hypnotized and tried to kill me. I saw you pick up a bale of hay with one hand and throw it. And whether or not you thought I noticed, I know Lana's necklace glows when it's near you. I followed you around Metropolis after I found your apartment and saw you throw people through the air and punch through ATM machines. I don't know how in the hell you got this way, but it's alright, Clark. I don't care that you're a meteor freak."

Clark winced at the mention of Metropolis and silently cursed himself for being so careless. How would he explain this? Although Chloe was no longer working with Lionel, could he really trust her? Would the friend in her overcome the journalist?

Something inside him stirred, and he realized that even with the knowledge she had, Chloe still said that she loved him. It was time to make a decision. He had waited so long wrestling with rationality that he wondered if he should just throw it all to the wind. He looked into Chloe's eyes. Nothing in there seemed menacing. Nothing looked deceitful. It was time for her to know.

"Chloe, I'm not a meteor freak."

"Clark, don't. Just don't."

"I'm not. I'm going to explain this to you, but you might want to sit down and get comfortable."

Chloe reluctantly sat, not really believing that Clark was actually going to tell her.

"If I tell you my secret, you could be put in a lot of danger to protect it. Do you still want to know?"

"Clark, I can handle…"

"Ok, fine."

"It can't be told to anyone, even those close to you," he said seriously.

Chloe nodded, smirking. "What is this, a top secret government agenda?" she joked.

"Chloe…"

"Ok, I'm done. Continue."

"This may be a shock – no – this will definitely be a shock…"

She listened closely, "What Clark? Spit it out."

"Chloe, I'm not from Kansas."

Chloe resisted the urge to laugh. All she could think of was the _Wizard of Oz_. But she knew that if she laughed, Clark would probably be offended, so she resorted to her previous thought.

"Where are you from, Clark? Egypt? Mexico? Chile? Italy? Japan? I always thought you looked kinda foreign."

Clark frowned, and nodded to the sky.

"Clark you're being cryptic. I don't know what you're getting at."

Clark took Chloe's hand in his, and traced a symbol on with his index finger.

"What's that?" Chloe asked.

"It's the symbol for hope." Clark said. "The symbol burned on the side of the barn."

Using the same words his dad had said to him on the day he found out what he was, Clark said, "It's not written in any language, known to man, that is."

Chloe almost choked on the air. "Are you saying that you're…you're…"

"Not from Earth."

Immediately Chloe's mind flew back to the meteor shower. She couldn't think how it was possible that Clark was an alien but yet it seemed so right. Everything suddenly fit into place. She could distinctly remember one particular scene at school. ("Yeah Chloe, I saw an alien. He looked a lot like Clark.") She could remember Clark wincing at that time. Absolutely blown away, she looked at Clark, waiting for more of an explanation.

"The reason my adoption papers look suspicious, is because I wasn't born here. My planet blew up, and my birth father sent me here. The meteor shower was actually pieces of my planet that were pulled to Earth."

"What was it called?"

"Krypton."

Chloe nodded for Clark to continue.

"Mom and dad found me in the cornfield, in a ship. I was three, and they adopted me."

"Do you remember anything about your planet?"

"No, not really."

"Is there anyone else like you?"

Clark's face hung. "No. I'm the last one."

Chloe noticed sadness climb into Clark's face, and she immediately felt for him.

Clark looked up again. "As for the situation with Lana's necklace, it's made of green meteor rock. I call it Kryptonite. The green kind makes me very weak and sick. It makes me nauseated to even think about it. It could probably kill me if I were around it long enough. The red kind removes my inhibitions. The more I wear it the worse I become. I do stupid things that I normally wouldn't do, like run off to Metropolis and become a thug."

"Red? Does that mean like in the class rings?"

"Exactly like in the class rings." He sighed at the last statement. "All those times I wasn't me, or I acted on impulse – the times I could never explain to you or Lana, usually had to do with those rings."

Chloe looked at Clark with new understanding in her eyes.

Clark immediately felt relieved. Letting it out had lifted a tremendous weight off his shoulders.

Chloe couldn't believe what she was hearing: not only the alien part, or the fact that all of the 'Wall of Weird' mysteries were solved in that instant, but the fact that Clark had so much pain: pain and loneliness, much like her own. Her dilemmas, however, were nothing compared to his. Left by a dying race, the lone survivor, not able to tell anyone, to have to live in secrecy forever. What a life. She mentally slapped herself for the last comment.

Clark waited for a reaction.

Tears started to well up in Chloe's eyes.

"No Chloe! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry!" Clark said.

"Clark it's just that you had to suffer through all this pain. I didn't know. I didn't realize, and I judged you before I knew the whole story. I'm so sorry!"

"Chloe, it's okay. I didn't expect you to know or understand." Clark was surprised that out of everything he had told Chloe, she was only worried about him.

"So you went on letting us hate you, even though you knew that we were wrong? Clark, why? If I had known I could've…supported you, been a better friend."

"Chloe it's okay. What's done is done now."

"It must be hard dealing with something like this on your own, with no one to talk to."

"I'm not alone, Chloe. I have my parents, I have Pete, and now I have you."

Chloe's head shot up.

"What! You told Pete first?"

"Well, Pete found my spaceship in the cornfield, and I had to explain it to him. He was pretty ticked off."

"Spaceship?" Chloe said, as if she needed to repeat it to believe it. "Wait a minute! Pete's known this for how long?"

"Since last year."

Clark looked at Chloe. She looked like she was going to explode. Clark could have sworn that right then Chloe was going to pop horns out of her head and steam out of her ears.

"I still can't get over the fact that you trusted Pete more than me. I could've handled it."

"Chloe, if it were that simple, don't you think I would've told you a long time ago? Besides, there was again how you'd react, and whether you'd stick me up on your 'Wall of Weird'."

"Clark I already said that I'd accept you no matter what, and you know I wouldn't have posted you on the 'Wall of Weird'!" The look in Clark's eyes made her think otherwise. "You didn't, did you?"

He never moved. "Chloe, I only found out myself what I was the day I saved Lex's life. Besides, I told you now, isn't that good enough?"

Against her racing mind, Chloe started to calm down. Clark was right. He did just tell her. She was too overwhelmed with everything, so as hard as she tried, a comeback or a response would not surface.

"So you don't care at all that I'm an alien?" Clark asked. The words seemed to flow so much easier now.

Chloe's face softened.

"Clark, I couldn't care what you are. What matters is that I love you, and I would never want you to have to deal with all of this alone."

They stood looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but finally they snapped out of it.

Chloe moved over next to him on the couch.

"So Clark, what exactly _can_ you do?"

Clark cocked his eyebrow. "I can't tell you that. It takes away from the mystery." Clark joked.

"Hardy har har. Seriously." Chloe joked back.

"Well…I don't really know where to start."

"What's the first thing you could do?"

"Since Mom and Dad found me I could run really fast. I was always strong too. It seems like every year I just continued to get faster and stronger."

"So you could do this when I met you in grade eight?"

"Well…yeah."

"Sorry. I'm just having a little trouble wrapping my head around this."

Clark smiled. "You're taking it better than Pete did."

"Why, what did Pete do?"

Clark remembered Pete pacing around him, looking at him, freaked out. He remembered telling Pete to say something.

"He just…didn't take it well. Can you remember the day he found the spaceship? That was the day I told him. When he left our driveway, I kind of stopped his car…with my bare hands."

"No wonder Pete was in a bad mood that day. The wax job on his car was screwed up and he found out that his best friend is an alien. I was wondering why he was acting so weird. I have to say though, Clark, I never would've in a million years thought that what Pete was saying that day was true."

"Yeah that was what I was betting on. I was really nervous when Pete said that to you."

Chloe smiled.

"So, I have a question. How did that symbol get on your barn?"

Clark groaned. "Heat vision."

"Excuse me?"

"Heat vision."

Chloe blinked. "When did this happen?"

"Remember the day when the screen caught fire in biology?"

"Too well. Wait a minute…that was you? You mean you were responsible for all those fires?"

"Not the one in the car. The biology teacher set that one to frame me."

"I see. So how did this power come about?"

Clark flinched. "I'd rather stay away from that topic if it's ok with you. It's a long story."

Chloe looked at Clark funny. Then she burst into laughter.

"I've got a pyro for a best friend!" she exclaimed, joking.

"Because I purposely set fire to things." Clark said sarcastically.

"Well you didn't hold back that day Perry was in town."

"That was different. I couldn't help that."

"Oh?"

"Sun spots. Apparently Krypton's sun was red, versus this one which is yellow. I think the sun gives me these abilities, so when there's solar flares, my powers go out of whack. Sometimes I don't have any, other times I'm in overdrive. That's how the curtains were burned and how the tractor got into the middle of the road."

"So you're like a walking solar battery."

"I guess so, if you want to look at it that way."

"Wow."

"I can't really be hurt either." Clark offered. "I used to bruise but I don't anymore. Roger Nixon blew up my truck while I was in it and it didn't leave a scratch on me. Needless to say though, I had to get a new truck."

Chloe remembered the night before at the Torch and the sharp tingling of her hand after hitting Clark. She bit her lip. "No wonder my hand hurt when I tried to shove you yesterday."

Clark heard a noise. Immediately he squinted and noticed a skeleton standing near the bottom of the loft steps. It looked like his dad.

"Clark, what are you doing? Why are you squinting like that?"

Jonathon, hearing Chloe's words, figured he was caught, and walked up to the steps to the loft.

"Dad, how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know what's going on." Jonathon said with a frown. "Son, I hope you know what you're doing. The more people that know, the more chances they'll slip up. And Chloe, you should understand that this is a big responsibility. If I ever hear that Lionel has heard about this through you, then I will personally . . . "

"I think she gets it, Dad…" Clark said, not happy about his dad eavesdropping.

"I understand, Mr. Kent! I'm not going to tell anyone. Honest!"

"I would say welcome to the family, but I think that it might be getting old," said Clark, on a lighter note.

Jonathon gave Clark a glance. "Clark, when you're done, I need you to help me with something outside. That was the reason I came in here in the first place. And don't think you got away with this easily. This is far from over."

Clark nodded and Jonathon walked outside.

"You knew he was there." Chloe said.

"X-ray vision."

"X-ray vision?"

"Yeah, and I could hear him breathing."

"Whoa!"

"I can hear well too." Clark said. He decided it was best that he not tell her how he knew about her and Lionel.

"More than well, I'd say. Wait a minute. You mean you can see through things? Like…people's clothes?"

"Well…yeah but Chloe I never…"

"That's a lie."

"Well…maybe once…"

Chloe raised her eyebrow.

"Or twice…but I didn't know how to use it then!"

"Like the time you used it to spy on my birthmark?" Chloe said with a smirk.

"You knew about that?"

"Not much goes on that I don't know about Clark. Is there anything you can't see through?"

"Lead."

"Looks like I'm gonna start a new fashion trend - lead clothes!"

"Chloe!" Clark protested.

"Why, you want to look through my clothes?" Chloe teased.

"You know I didn't say that…"

Chloe laughed.

"Lead stops the radiation of the Kryptonite from hurting me too."

"I'll have to remember that, for the next time you need saving." Chloe joked.

Clark looked away.

"There's just one other thing I want you to know, Chloe. I hate to bring this up again, but the reason I left at homecoming was because I had to go and save Lana from the twister. It had nothing to do with me feeling any more for her than I did for you."

"I know."

"You do?"

"I guess I kind of always did, but it was easier to convince myself that you left me for Lana. I hate to say it, Clark, but I'm not really as confident and self assured as I seem, and I guess that I had a fair lack of it that day."

Chloe smiled. "But it's ok, because everything's explained now. I've finally solved the mystery that is Clark Kent." Chloe exclaimed.

Clark gave a small smile.

"I have to go and help dad, now, Chloe."

"Alright, well, I'll see you around at the Talon. How about seven-ish?"

Clark smiled. "Sounds good. And Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for accepting me."

"You don't have to thank me for that, Clark. I'd have done it anyway." Chloe said, and kissed him on the cheek, as they both walked outside.

Chloe got into her truck and watched as Clark fixed fence posts for his dad. Even though he had told her his secret, she was still in awe with him displaying it so openly.

She turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the driveway, elated and amazed, and most of all, finally enlightened about the person who Clark Kent really was.


	4. Discoveries

_**Chapter 4 - Discoveries**_

It was seven o'clock at the Talon. Where was Clark? He certainly was taking his time. Suddenly, Chloe caught a glimpse of Clark speeding down the road with a bag on his shoulder. She saw him slow as he neared the building, and she basked in the glory of being that much closer to Clark: knowing his secret.

"Hi guys!" he exclaimed as he walked in. "Where's Lana?"

"She's in the back. She'll only be a minute." Pete said.

In under a minute, Lana was out. She was wearing a small pink sweater with blue hip hugger jeans.

"You're going camping like that?" Chloe asked in surprise.

"No, I have a few things to take care of. Let me know where you're going and I'll meet you there later." Lana stated.

"We're going to a camping spot near the Kawatche Caves. You'll see the car. Just follow the trail." Pete told her.

"Okay. See ya then guys!"

"All right, let's get going!" Pete yelled excitedly, as he jumped into the front seat of his car. Chloe and Clark followed suit. Pete was in the front and two of them in the back.

A little while later Pete stopped his car on a stretch of highway. The group stepped out and unloading the car they walked to the camping spot. Once there, before Pete could start anything, a familiar blue and red blur raced around at top speed. The blur then returned to a figure of Clark Kent, and Pete noticed that the tents were set up and everything was inside.

Pete just looked at him with surprise and fear. "Clark, that was Chloe you just did that in front of man! Did you lose your mind?"

"No, Pete. She knows."

Chloe and Pete shared a glance.

"He told me today."

Both Pete and Chloe looked at Clark and remembered what he had done. "Clark!" they both yelled, shaking their heads in disapproval.

"Hey what's the point of having a super-powered friend if you don't get all the perks?" He smirked.

As long as we're here, do you want to go to the caves? I haven't actually shown them to Chloe yet, with the full story anyway. And there's something there I want to show you guys."

"Why not?" Pete shrugged.

* * *

Lana pulled into the driveway of the infamous Lex Luthor. Upon knocking on the door she was let in by the butler and lead down toward Lex's office where he was typing away at a business report on his laptop. Noticing Lana's entry into the room, he looked up.

"Lana, what brings you here?"

"I need your help."

"Well, you'll have to be more specific than that."

"I plan to. Lex, it's been in my understanding that you are still investigating Clark."

"Where did you hear…?"

She cut him off. "That's not the point. The point is that I am sick of being left out of the loop. Today, Clark seemed a lot closer to Chloe, just as he has been to Pete since the day he and Pete had a huge fight. They both know, Lex."

"And?"

"Clark's just lost me. I want to know. I want to work together on this."

"Well Lana, to say that I'm surprised would be an understatement, but I understand how you feel. Are you sure this is something that you want to go through with?"

"Positive."

"Well, I can tell you what I know, but I'm not going to press the issue further. Clark's still my friend. And I warn you Lana, you wanted to do this, not me."

* * *

The caves were cool and damp this time of year, but all the markings remained intact.

"Here it is." He said, and reached toward a small part of the wall. It responded to Clark and a diamond shaped opening appeared. He reached in and pulled out Jor-el's chain and handed it to Chloe and Pete.

"Clark this is amazing! Whose was it?" Chloe asked.

"It was Jor-el's, my birth father's, when he was on Earth."

Suddenly, a slight white glow lit up the caves and a booming voice began to speak. "Kal-el," it said. Clark turned around, and Chloe and Pete followed suit.

"Jor-el," Clark stated, rather menacingly. Chloe saw a look in Clark's eyes that she never thought existed. "I figured you were behind this. What do you want now? Haven't you ruined my life enough?" Clark questioned him.

Chloe was now in awe at the commanding presence of this 'being' that wasn't really there, and was ultimately Clark's real dad. She stood there, stunned, still in awe at the fact that Clark really wasn't from around here. It was starting to hit her just how real this was.

Pete wasn't so much in shock, but afraid: afraid for Clark. He'd heard about Clark's birth dad. As far as Pete was concerned, Jor-el had done some really terrible things, and his presence was not to be taken lightly.

"You are again stubborn, Kal-el." Jor-el stated. "I told you that you had a destiny, and you ran. You still have that destiny, regardless of whether or not you want it."

"I ran to save my family and friends from you!" Clark yelled. "This symbol that you keep engraving into me, do you really think it's going to change anything? It represents nothing to me. Whatever it means, whatever heritage it is, I don't care. I never grew up on Krypton, I grew up on Earth, and everything and everyone I love is here. I'm not like you or your race, and if the rest of my family is like you, I'd never care to meet them."

"Silence!" Jor-el's commanding voice boomed.

"No! I'm through listening to you. I will never do as you say, no matter how much you torture me. Whatever sick goal you have – whatever plans of me ruling, your society wants that - not mine, not me." Clark exclaimed. "Krypton wanted that and Krypton died. And do you know why it died, Jor-el, and why I was sent here? I know why. It wasn't because of you. It was because you were a doomed race, and I was allowed to live because someone decided that maybe - just maybe – Kryptonians deserved a second chance."

Chloe thought it was the first time she'd ever seen Clark out of breath. She saw Clark's irises turn orange. Immediately she realized that it happened whenever he was emotionally distressed. Suddenly she understood the flicker she often saw in his eyes. She knew Clark all her life and never had she seen him this angry - this scared - this vulnerable. Whoever this man was, she didn't like him. She didn't like him at all.

"What kind of a parent are you anyway?" Chloe yelled. "Sending your son off alone and then when he finally learns to accept himself trying to ruin his life and trying to control him! You make me sick!"

"Yeah asshole, you leave my man Clark alone!" Pete shouted, as both he and Chloe stepped in front of Clark.

They were petrified, but they weren't about to let this bastard hurt Clark again.

(A/N: Yeah I know, bastard is a harsh word, but I quote from Clark, "My dad's a real bastard." If you don't believe me read the transcript from Exile.)

"Guys, no! Don't you realize how powerful he is?" Clark yelled.

"Enough!" came a reply from the now glowing wall.

Chloe and Pete shuddered. Had they just stood up to this being? Clark now stood in front of them to protect them.

A white blast of light flooded out of the wall, and Clark was pushed completely to the opposite side of the cave, and up to the ceiling. Clark's plaid shirt ripped open and the familiar red scar began to burn itself into Clark's chest again. It was all Chloe and Pete could do to watch him wince in pain.

Suddenly Pete noticed something flickering in the cave wall. It was from the same orifice as the light.

"Clark, aim for the middle of the light, with your heat vision." Pete yelled.

Although in incredible pain, Clark took Pete's advice, and as soon as the heat entered the hole with the light, a soft sizzling could be heard and the light receded.

Clark fell to the floor, both relieved but also weary because he had the scar again.

Immediately there was a large crackle, and the wall opened up partially, shooting a white beam of energy throughout the caves. It bounced off every wall, and turned every corner until it engulfed everything. There was no avoiding it. This time, not only did Clark get hit, but so did Chloe and Pete. Immediately, Chloe fell to her knees, and in the small of her back formed a scar like Clark's, only much smaller. Pete managed to prop himself up against a wall when he felt a burning on the upper part of his left arm. Slowly pulling the material from his t-shirt sleeve up, he realized he too had a scar like Clark's.

The wave of light pulsated for two more minutes, although it seemed like eternity to the three teens. Finally, it gave out, as though the tremendous wave had actually been a last desperate attempt to sway Clark to its will.

The wall remained partially open, and a warm bluish-white light came from it, along with a new voice.

"Kal-el…sorry…Clark. That is what you're called now, is it not?"

"Yeah, it is," Clark answered, wondering who this new person was.

"I am Lara, your mother.

The shock on Clark's face became apparent.

"Your father and continue to live through these caves though our bodies are truly dead. But that being you have witnessed for the past year or so was not your father."

"Then what the hell was it?" Clark asked.

"It was a malfunction, Kal-el." A voice that sounded eerily like Jor-el said.

Suddenly two figures appeared before Clark and his friends. One was a rather large, well-built man, with well-combed dark hair and hazel eyes. Clark was a spitting image of him. Next to him was a small but sturdy woman, with shoulder length blonde hair that hung about her face quite elegantly, and green eyes. Clark was amazed. It was the first time he had 'met' his birth mother.

"Originally our plan was to send you to Earth, to allow you to grow up there, and guide their race. However, we were always afraid that you would be isolated, shunned, and discriminated against because of the fear of other planets and their peoples." Jor-el told Clark.

"Wait, you really did want me to rule?"

"No, Kal-el." Lara said. "Guide. Guide as in help, aide them."

"Then what about the message from the ship? I read it. It said, 'On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men. They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies.'"

Lara laughed.

"What's so funny?" Clark asked.

"Your father wrote that. He's an inventor, a scientist, and also not very good with words. Rule, guide, it is all the same to him."

"Do you know how much grief that one word caused me?" Clark said.

"Yes, but even so, we couldn't have told you the difference. Let us explain."

"Kal-el, I sent you here to Hiram Kent's descendant, Jonathon, because I knew that he and Martha wouldn't judge you as Hiram didn't judge me, and I knew that with them, you would grow up with good values, and a good family." Jor-el continued to explain.

"Now, I'm sure you'd like to hear why we have come forward now and not earlier." Lara began. "Jor-el built this AI in the caves on a later visit to Earth. A small chip contained within a unit was designed to store our beliefs and values, and along with us, guide you to make the right choices. Jor-el had done this because he knew Krypton was about to die, but he was wrong in one aspect. Krypton was going to die much sooner than he expected. Therefore, we had to send you sooner and thus we never had a chance to check the unit's functionality."

"So there was a malfunction," Clark stated, the new information finally registering.

"So we believe, Kal-el. The chip was supposed to support us and let us guide you, acting more as a backup, but what I didn't realize was that the chip itself would suppress us and scramble its programming. It confused our desires for you to lead a happy life with our fears. One minute it was trying to help you and the next, protect you. To your chagrin, Kal-el, it confused the words 'guiding' with 'ruling'. As expected, in response you became frustrated and rebellious, but we were helpless to do anything. Only when you damaged the chip could we come forward." Jor-el explained.

"How are you even alive?" Clark wondered.

"We are not completely alive. We are projections of Jor-el and Lara's consciousness that were programmed to be complete copies of them in our actions and thoughts, and simulate their emotions and care for you. On Krypton, a computer compiled most of the possible situations we could encounter when you found us and prepared us for it. Therefore the AI can think and respond to new situations." Lara explained.

Clark's gaze glided down to his shoes, and he sighed, sadly. "So you aren't really my parents at all." He stated.

"Actually Kal-el, we are." Lara continued. "Before Krypton exploded, we placed you into a small space vessel, and programmed you to leave in one minute. Before the vessel left we managed to transfer as much of our consciousness to its computer system as we could. We were released and combined with the AI in the caves when you put the key into the ship. However, we became suppressed because of the chip being activated."

"But I don't understand. If you could do that, then why bother with the AI at all?" Clark asked, confused.

"Because it was a new invention, Kal-el, and somewhat unstable. Initially we had planned to fully transfer our consciousness to the ship but I had set up the AI as a failsafe so you would still have someone to guide you, should the procedure not work, or it become too late."

Clark perked up a little, and Chloe and Pete looked on in amazement. This was unbelievable.

"You do have a destiny, Kal-el, but we do not wish for you to rule." Lara said softly. "There is one errand you must do, though, for yourself."

Clark nodded his head. "What is it?"

"The three Kryptonian crystals must be collected and united on the pedestal inside of the cave wall. It will reveal a place your father had created especially for you. We initially hid them in places that only you would be able to access, but I am afraid that technology has advanced on Earth since your father came and soon they will be discovered. Please retrieve them quickly, for in the wrong hands, they could cause great harm."

She ran her hand down her son's face.

"Please, visit us often, and give Martha and Jonathon our gratitude for raising you. You've turned out just the way I expected you would. And please inform Jonathon that he should return to good health now that the program has been damaged. The abilities of our people under a yellow sun should not have hurt a human at all. The program simply considered him a threat and made sure he was weak so he couldn't oppose it. We must go now and examine the damage. Goodbye, Kal-el. Goodbye, Pete, and Chloe."

With that, the holograms faded and the wall closed. A new Kryptonian key formed in the cave wall and fell out. Clark placed it into his pocket.

Clark glanced down at his chest and noticed, to his disappointment, that the scar hadn't been removed. He sighed and glanced down at the chain on the ground, and quickly picked it up walked over to the indentation, laying the chain inside. The wall closed up.

Everything was silent between the three teens, until Pete piped up and asked if Chloe had a scar too.

"I don't know." She said. "Felt like I did, on my back. But I'll worry about it later. Right now, all of this information is hurting my head."

Chloe heard Clark mumble something that would normally be considered unintelligible, but she understood it anyway.

"Yeah we definitely should get back to camp and figure this out later." She responded.

Clark's face turned white. "Chloe, how did you know what I just said?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just spoke in Kryptonian."

Chloe's face became shocked, as did Pete's, but all were too dazed to say anything else, and supporting each other, walked out of the caves.

They reached the campsite to find Lana standing there with her arms crossed. She had a rather unpleasant look on her face.

"We were . . . " Clark began.

"We were . . . " Chloe tried to say.

"Out for a walk!" Pete said rather hurriedly.

"I was waiting here for a little more than an hour!" she said in an annoyed tone.

They hadn't realized they had been so long.

Eventually Lana brushed off the occurrence and they began to set up the sleeping bags and take out the food.

"We need a fire." Lana stated.

"Uh, why doesn't Clark go get some?" Chloe asked.

Clark looked a little uncomfortable. It hit Chloe that he'd have no way to explain his speed to Lana, who didn't know about him.

"Covering for Clark is certainly going to be challenging." She realized, and announced that she would get the logs for the fire.

But Lana still looked queerly at Chloe and then Clark, suspecting there was something up.

Then there was the problem of starting the fire. Pete tried to no avail, then Lana. Clark was debating whether helping with the fire would raise Lana's suspicions. Eventually he decided there'd be no harm done.

"Here, let me try." Clark offered. As a decoy for Lana to observe, Clark began to rub two pieces of wood together like she and Pete had done. As soon as he witnessed a spark, he lit the wood on fire. "There," he said. Lana didn't know what to think. Had she just seen Clark's hazel-green eyes turn orange?

"There is something going on." Lana thought, "And I have no idea what it is, but I will find out."

They all had their marshmallow roast and went to their tents. Chloe and Lana stayed in one while Clark and Pete stayed in another. Soon, they were fast asleep.

_Later that night . . . _

Pete felt a rough piece of material scratching his head. He opened one eye and found that it was Clark's sleeping bag. Turning around, he noticed first that Clark was floating. Secondly, he noticed the unzipped sleeping bag hanging down from Clark's floating silhouette.

"Leave it to Clark to find an original way to sleep." Pete thought.

Pete proceeded to rip the blanket down from Clark, hoping that would wake him up. Of course, it never had the desired effect and Clark began to float out of the open part of the tent. Pete's eyes widened and he quickly hauled on some shoes and socks and followed Clark's silhouette. At first he caught Clark's arm, and tried to shake it, to no avail. He tried shaking Clark's torso, but that didn't work either.

"Clark, man you gotta wake up." Pete whispered, to no effect. He tried to push Clark back into the tent but he was after rising up too high to be moved back inside.

Pete sighed, stopping Clark from moving and hoping that Clark didn't float away while he tiptoed over to Chloe and Lana's tent.

"Psst. Chloe." He said softly. "Meet me outside. And make it quick."

Chloe stepped out, sleepy eyed and yawning. "What, Pete?"

Pete turned to point toward Clark, but he had moved.

"What is this some kind of joke? Well it's not funny, Pete."

"Clark just floated out here. He was _right_ _here_." Pete emphasized.

"Uh oh. I think I know where he is." Chloe said, pointing. As she looked at the silhouette of Clark floating she couldn't believe it, but there it was, as plain as day in front of her. Clark had never told her that he could float! She would have to confront him about it later.

Pete looked in the direction her arm pointed to and noticed Clark quickly but silently drifting toward the water.

"Crap!" Pete said, and began to run for the fast-moving Clark about to float over the river.

"If he gets over that river we'll never wake him." Chloe said quietly. "And Lana will see it too."

Then she had an idea. Chloe ran over to the supplies and found a pot and spoon. She then quickly followed Pete.

By the time she reached the waterside, it was too late. Clark was already halfway across.

"Pete." She said. "I have an idea but it'll wake Lana I'm pretty sure."

"What choice do we have? What's your idea?"

Chloe held up the pot and spoon.

"Go for it." Pete said. "I don't have a better one."

Chloe clanged together the pot and spoon loudly and watched as Clark's eyes popped open as he woke from the noise. Of course, as soon as he woke, he began to fall. In all fact, he fell directly into the heart of the river with a huge splash.

Clark walked out of the water not amused. The first thing he noticed was Chloe and Pete laughing.

Although they hadn't planned it, Chloe and Pete still found Clark's expression before taking the plunge mighty hilarious.

"Hilarious and priceless." She thought. "I wish I had a camera."

Clark saw that Chloe and Pete were in fits of laughter.

"I don't suppose that you guys thought to bring a _towel_." Clark said, angrily.

"Exactly what is going on here?" Lana asked, stepping out from behind the bushes.

"Uh, hi Lana." Clark sputtered.

Lana looked at them, quite bitterly. "What are you guys doing up at this hour?"

"These two decided to play a joke on me. They figured carrying me to the lake and throwing me in would be hilarious." Clark said, glaring at Pete and Chloe.

"No, honestly, Clark. We didn't." Chloe began. "You were…never mind."

She stopped, realizing she couldn't explain with Lana around.

"He was what?" Lana asked, frustrated. "First Clark won't open up, and now _you guys_ are covering for him?"

"Lana, we're all tired, why don't we just…" Clark tried.

She cut him off.

"We're all tired, Lana. What kind of an answer is that? I guess I'll have to face it Clark. You'll never open up to me." She said as she turned around with a frown and made her way back to the camp.

Pete and Chloe let out their breath.

"So what did happen?" Clark asked.

"You were floating. We tried to wake you up before Lana saw." Pete said. "You got to the river and we had to get creative."

Clark sighed. "I'm going back to bed." He stated, and began to walk back to camp, with Chloe and Pete trailing behind.


	5. Peace Offerings

**_Chapter 5 - Peace Offerings_**

It was Saturday morning: well, close to morning. Clark had slept late today. It was noon. It was quiet, and upon waking he found that Lana had left. The mood for camping was ruined and all reluctantly decided to go home.

Now Clark was sitting in his room thinking. He didn't know what to say to Lana. He knew she had a right to be angry, but he didn't know if he even wanted to tell her his secret anymore. He sighed, thinking about the other problem he had. Chloe was leaving soon. He had told her they would work it out, but in all honesty, he didn't have a clue what to do.

Suddenly he heard some interesting conversation coming from the kitchen. He focused his hearing.

"Martha, it's going to be okay. We got through this before. Remember the day Clark came home from Metropolis? Everything worked out after that and it's going to work out again."

Martha broke out in sobs.

"It's so hard, Jonathon. We've done everything we could, yet we still can't cover the bills. We just can't take out another loan."

Clark looked down. He hadn't realized his parents were having trouble paying the bills.

Jonathon held Martha closer. A look of concern was evident on his face.

"The only thing I can think of is to take in boarders. But we can't really do that, can we?" Martha said, "What if one of them finds out about Clark?"

"Martha, we'll have to do what we have to. We'll get through it, just as we always have." Jonathon comforted, embracing her.

Clark stood up. He had heard enough, and he wasn't about to let his parents lose the farm because of him. He walked down to the kitchen.

What he saw surprised him. His mom was in a worse state than he had thought.

"Clark!" Martha practically squeaked. She hadn't expected him to come down.

"Mom, dad, I kind of heard what you were talking about when I was upstairs and…"

Jonathon frowned. "Clark, do not tell me you were using that hearing of yours to eavesdrop on us."

Clark's face dropped. "I just wanted to help. I heard what mom said about not taking in boarders and I don't want you to not do it because of me."

"Clark, we can't just let people stay here. You'd constantly have to refrain from using your abilities. And besides that, what if one of them finds out your secret?"

"Well actually, dad, I have an idea."

Jonathon looked at him with surprise.

"Chloe and her dad are going to have to move because Gabe lost his job, and they can't afford where they're staying. So maybe they can stay here. Chloe already knows my secret, anyway."

"But Gabe doesn't. Clark, do you realize what you're saying? You'd have to be extremely careful, all of the time." Martha said, regaining composure.

"It's a small sacrifice to make." Clark said.

"No, Clark, it's a big sacrifice. One we didn't want to have to make."

"Dad, it's ok. I can deal with it."

Jonathon looked conflicted. What other choice did they have?

"Well I guess it couldn't hurt to mention it to Chloe," said Jonathon. "We'd have to make up the attic though, since we only have one guest room."

"I can do that." Clark said, smiling. "Do you want me to do it now?"

"Well, you should probably wait to see what Gabe says first. He may have other plans." Jonathon said.

"I just thought of something." Martha mentioned. "Isn't Lana staying with the Sullivans?"

"Oh, I never thought of that." Clark said. "Well, I would say that she'd live in the Talon's apartment, anyway."

"We'll get it figured out, son."

Clark nodded.

* * *

Chloe was at the Talon sipping her coffee with Pete.

"Hey, Chloe, I have something I wanted to talk to you about." Clark said.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"Well, my family was considering taking in boarders, and I told them about you and your dad having to move away. Since you can't afford where you're staying now, maybe you could board with us." Clark told her.

The shattering of the coffee cup that Chloe was once holding so firmly echoed throughout the Talon as the coffee drenched her waist and most of the floor underneath the booth. She silently cursed herself for being so clumsy.

"What?" she stuttered.

"Well, dad needs more help with the farm, and kind of…needs the money." Clark said reluctantly. "What's wrong Chloe?"

"Um…nothing Clark."

"I figured I'd mention it to you, but if you don't like the idea…" Clark began.

"No, no, it's a really good idea. Dad's on unemployment now, so he can afford to pay rent, but not a mortgage. There was just no where to stay. I just didn't think that you'd say something like that. It took me by surprise."

"Well, I guess that we could help each other."

Chloe smiled. "I guess we could. I'll mention it to Dad."

Chloe looked into Clark's eyes, and was immediately captured. She couldn't believe that this was the guy who used to be an incredible jerk to her.

At that moment Lana walked up to the booth to clean up the mess. "You want a cloth or something Chloe?" she asked the perky blonde haired girl.

"Huh?"

"You know, to clean up the mess on your skirt."

"Oh . . . yeah!" Chloe blushed. "Damn you Clark. You and your making me forget about everything else." She mumbled. She looked up and Clark was blushing. Immediately she realized she had said that aloud.

Lana looked uncomfortable. "So what happened anyway?" Lana asked.

Chloe looked up at Lana and explained Clark's idea. She immediately saw Lana's eyes widen and then look quickly down at the ground. Oh no.

"What is it Lana?"

"Oh…it's…nothing really." Lana said, faking a smile, and took the mop and left. Chloe was still without a cloth or napkin. Everyone sighed. All three stood up and left the Talon. It was obvious that Lana wasn't happy right now and staying wasn't going to make anything better.

Outside the Talon, Chloe thought of something. "Clark, you realize that you'd have to refrain from using any powers if my dad was there, don't you?" she mentioned.

Clark nodded. "I know that, but you should know that you're in danger of sounding like my Dad."

Chloe playfully punched him.

"What's Lana going to do?" asked Pete.

"I don't know. I guess I'll just have to break the news to her," Chloe said. "I mean we did offer to let her stay, but if we can't afford to stay ourselves, well, I guess everything changes."

_Clark's house . . . _

Clark's dad was on the phone when he returned. Clark ran up to his room and put on his headphones. Shoving in a CD, he turned on the 'tunes' to low and sat down to chill out for a while. He had always wanted the volume up before his enhanced hearing came about. Now however, there was no need. All he had to do was relax.

"Clark!" came a loud yell from the kitchen. It was Jonathon. Clark speeded to the kitchen, leaving a breeze behind him.

"I was just talking to Gabe. It seems that he and Chloe are going to be moving in. However, he wants to wait until Lana makes other arrangements. I want to let you know, though, that we did discuss the possibility of Lana moving in too, since everyone's unsure what she's going to do."

Clark groaned. "Well that should be fun."

But Jonathon wasn't finished yet. "Clark, are you sure you're ok with this, because if you're not I can stop this whole thing before it starts."

Clark nodded. "I'm fine. I'll just have to adapt a little, especially if Lana stays here."

"Clark?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"As much as taking in boarders bothers me, I'm proud of the way you're handling it."

* * *

Again, a silhouette with raven hair stood in the doorway of Lex's study. He didn't need anyone to tell him it was Lana Lang.

"What's the matter Lana? You seem perturbed." Lex asked, as Lana stepped into the dimly lit study.

"Chloe is going to be boarding with Clark, so she isn't going to be moving after all." Lana said.

"That sounds great. Why so upset?"

"It is, but now I may not have a place to stay. I have to make other arrangements quickly. Any ideas?"

"Why not just stay in the Talon's apartment?"

"I already thought of that. I don't think that Nell would agree, and when she found out she would want me to come to Metropolis with her."

Lex looked conflicted for a minute. "I'd offer to let you stay here, but that would look kind of suspicious or improper, I imagine."

"Well, Gabe was discussing the possibility of my staying with the Kents."

"Why not do that? It seems like the better choice."

"I don't really know if I want to be around Clark all the time."

"You could use it to your advantage."

Lana looked up and nodded. She knew what Lex was talking about and he was right.

"Do you need anything else?" Lex asked her.

"No. But, thanks a lot Lex, for standing by me through this. I need to do it."

"I know."

* * *

It was suppertime at the Kent home, and Clark and his parents were sitting at the table for dinner. Although worried about the family's monetary problems, Clark was happy that Chloe would be moving in soon. It was nice to see him so content about something for a change.

"So Jonathon, how did your visit to the doctor go today?" Martha asked.

Clark looked at his mom. "What visit?" he said.

"The one to check on my heart condition. The weirdest thing happened actually. The doctor said that although my condition seemed critical on my last visit, my heart is back to being as healthy as it was before my…" Jonathon realized what he said and stopped.

"Before what, honey?"

"Before my surgery…" Jonathon tried to fill in.

"Or before your deal with Jor-el. Right, dad?"

Jonathon went pale. How did Clark know?

"What deal with Jor-el? You made a deal with Jor-el?" Martha asked, furious.

Clark was amused by the way his father acted when put on the spot. He guessed that was who he got it from. Before interrupting to reassure his dad, however, Clark decided to wait, to find out exactly what the deal was.

"I made a deal with Jor-el that if he helped me bring Clark back, then we wouldn't interfere with him and Clark. He told me that I'd have a very short life span because of it, but I didn't listen." Jonathon said, sighing. He knew he was caught.

"You what? What did Jor-el do to you?" Martha exclaimed.

"He gave me Kryptonian abilities." Jonathon said.

Clark figured it was time to butt in. "It's ok, mom."

"No Clark, that is most certainly not okay! How could you, Jonathon?"

"Mom! Dad! Ahem!" Clark cleared his throat. "It's okay. I mean it. I met with Jor-el last night and I was told that your deal is off."

"Clark how did you?"

"Clark, don't tell me that you agreed to leave?" Martha asked.

Clark grabbed at the collar of his plaid shirt, remembering the scar still on his chest from the night before. He figured he had better not tell his parents about it, or they would worry, and they didn't need something else to worry about right now.

"No, actually, I was there with Pete and Chloe, and I told off Jor-el. So did they, actually."

"And he listened?" Jonathon's voice was filled with surprise.

"No, actually he didn't. It's a really long explanation."

"We have lots of time." Martha said, staring daggers at Jonathon.

"Well, it wasn't actually Jor-el that was controlling the cave, it was a chip that had information to protect and guide me, but it malfunctioned. I destroyed it and Jor-el and Lara came forward and explained everything to me. According to them you shouldn't have been harmed at all by having my powers."

Clark didn't think that he'd ever seen his parents this shocked at something. "By the way," he added, "They both asked me to thank you for taking me in and caring for me. They said that they purposely sent me to you, Dad, because of the kindness Jor-el experienced from your father." It felt weird for Clark to say that, but it was something he thought that his parents should hear.

"Oh my God." Martha mouthed.

Jonathon looked down at his supper. It was cold. "Well, so much for supper tonight. How about we get directly to dessert?"

Martha returned to her old self. "Jonathon!" she said, as she playfully hit him on the back of the head.

"I should take you down to meet them sometime." Clark offered. "To really meet them."

"Yes, you should." Martha agreed, and she stood up to get the pie anyway, since this was now a special occasion.

* * *

_After a long day, it was around 10:00 p.m. in the evening._

_At Chloe's house . . . _

Lana paraded through the door.

"You're home late." Chloe said.

"Yeah, well it took me longer than usual to clean up today."

"Lana, I hope you don't feel like we're kicking you out. That's not our intention, we just don't have much of a choice in the matter. It's either move to Metropolis or stay with Clark."

"No, I don't feel that way, Chloe. Besides, Mr. Kent and your father were talking and I may be staying with Clark too."

"You're what?" Chloe asked, surprised, almost dropping this coffee in the process.

Lana smiled.

"Anyway, Chloe, I'm tired so I'm going to have a nap for a while ok?"

"Sure." Chloe agreed.

"This is going to go over well with Clark," Chloe thought, and sighed.


	6. Clark Two?

_**Chapter 6 – Clark Two?**_

The day finally came when Chloe, Gabe and Lana were moving in. Clark had cleaned out the attic to make a room for Chloe and Lana, and also a storage room in the house where Gabe would now sleep.

Chloe sat in her truck, driving behind her dad's car. Behind her truck Lana drove. Although unfortunate events had caused her to move in with Clark, she couldn't help but be excited about it. Her heart raced at the thought of living with Clark every day, and perhaps some non-innocent thoughts came to mind when she pictured seeing Clark in boxers. She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head, a little embarrassed at her strong attraction to him.

When she pulled into the driveway and got out of the driver's seat, Clark rushed out to greet her. He insisted on carrying her luggage for her, but Chloe was as stubborn as usual. She grabbed one of the boxes from Clark as they walked up to the attic. As soon as everyone was out of earshot she whispered, "You think just because you have super strength that I can't carry a box. I'll show you!" And with that she raced down the hall, leaving Clark to laugh and eventually zip down to catch her and the box as she slipped and almost fell on her backside. Immediately she began laughing. "Give that back!" she said as she took the box back and pretended to stomp up to the attic.

After a few hours everything was brought in the house, except for the beds. Of course it would've only taken Clark a few minutes to unload everything, but seeing as he had to be careful that wasn't really a good idea. Clark brought in Lana and Chloe's beds, one by one of course, with Gabe so as not to attract attention. Gabe and Jonathon brought in Gabe's bed to the guest room, leaving Clark with the girls.

"Well, I have to be getting back to the Talon. I'll unpack when I get home." Lana said, and waved, as she got in her jeep. In all fact of the matter, Lana was heading to the Talon to meet with Pete. She had decided that if she played her cards right, then maybe she could get some information out of him.

In Clark's driveway, Chloe and Clark glanced at each other, and then headed to the attic. With Chloe watching out for Gabe, he went into Clark time and assembled Chloe and Lana's beds in what seemed like seconds to Chloe.

"Cool!" she thought.

After that, the two headed outside for Clark to show Chloe some chores that had to be done.

**_The Talon . . . _**

"Pete, I know there's something up with Clark. Why won't he tell me?" Lana questioned.

Pete looked down at the table. He had to choose his words carefully around Lana. "Why do you want to know so much? It's Clark's business." he stated.

"I'm just worried about him." Lana said, half telling the truth.

"Lana, I'm sure he'll tell you when he's ready." Pete said.

"So then, Clark is definitely hiding something." Lana said cunningly.

"No . . . I just meant, you know, that if he did have a secret then I'm sure if you wait…"

"Not only is Clark hiding something, Pete, you're helping him."

Pete gulped. "No, I'm not. I know as much as you do."

Lana looked at him, not convinced. "When you look away like that, you're lying," she said.

"Okay fine! So what if I am? I can't tell you, Lana! It would betray Clark's trust."

"Protecting Clark is the only thing you care about isn't it?"

"No actually Lana," Pete stuttered, "I care a lot about you, and I thought that was why you asked me here."

Lana's eyes widened and she sat up straight, obviously surprised. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't see the point, Lana. You loved Clark and he was crazy about you. How did that leave any room for me?"

"Oh, Pete, I'm so sorry!" Lana apologized.

"You still care about him don't you?" Pete asked, looking down.

Lana thought about it for a minute. "No, Pete. No more than friends anymore. I mean that. I don't think that Clark and I were ever compatible."

"Lana, how about dinner and a movie tonight?" Pete said, working up some courage.

Her answer caught him by surprise.

"You know what Pete? I would love to."

* * *

In a small, dimly lit lab, Whitney was laying in a chamber filled with green fluid. He opened his eyes to an empty lab: no scientists, no lab technicians, no one even monitoring his vital stats. He figured that they must've all gone home for the day. Of course, this had been his life for…how long was it? He couldn't remember. All he knew is that it had happened directly after the bomb had hit.

Whitney's eyes rolled back into his head and he shifted into a dream. His team was running through the jungle. Most of them were amateurs. They had been trained but they weren't as experienced as one senior member in their group. Their task was regarded as an easier one – one of their men had been suspected of spying for the enemy's militia and they were sent to his tent to capture him, since he wouldn't respond to the Sergeant's orders. However, somehow the traitorous soldier had been aware of their attempt to capture him and things had gone awry from there.

Whitney remembered, along with a couple of others, being told to stay behind and watch in case the soldier returned to his tent. They had only been stationed for a few minutes when unexpectedly, a bomb dropped. All Whitney remembered was scrambling to get away, and then it all went black.

Waking up, Whitney again looked around the room. He didn't even really know how this whole thing had started – how he ended up in a lab, in a substance that somehow looked like liquefied meteor rocks from his hometown. It was as though he'd never actually gotten away from the weirdness at all.

A sudden surge shot through the tank, and Whitney winced. "Smallville," he thought. "Lana."

She was the only thing keeping him going. The only memoir he had of her, _they_ had taken it. They had taken her necklace. He remembered the video she had sent him, the last one. It had broken his heart, but he still believed that somehow, if he could go back, she would love him again.

The surge coursing through the tank got stronger. Whitney tried to curl into a ball, but there wasn't much room. He started to think of Lana, like he always did, to get him through this. But his mind drifted and he found himself thinking about her…and Clark. One phrase kept going though his head – the last thing he said to Clark: "I need you to look after her until I get back." Clark had promised to look after Lana.

He had learned a great deal about Clark since he had been there. It seemed as though everyone constantly had Clark's name on their tongue, well indirectly anyway, and not that there were many people around. A vial of Clark's blood, or "the subject's blood" as everyone called it, was actually hooked up to the apparatus that held him in. Whitney had actually figured out who the subject was by the name of the project: Clark II. When he attempted to ask whether it was the Clark Kent he knew, he received harsh stares and his drug dosage was increased. He knew that because most of the time he was too 'out of it' to wonder why the project had such a name. Meanwhile, he had heard a few things he wished he had not, which explained why Clark was always there to save everyone, and why he was so secretive.

Turning his thoughts back to Lana, he again pictured the video of her breaking up with him. Her words became louder and louder in his head. "I don't know how I feel about us anymore." It nibbled at him and nibbled at him for hours, until he came to a realization. "It was Clark," He thought angrily. "That's why Lana gave up on us. She loved him all along, and I just threw her into his arms. That son of a…I asked him to watch out for her, not take her away. Just because he has all those powers, he thinks that he can do whatever he wants. Well he's not getting away with it. I'm going back to Smallville if it kills me."

He slammed his fist into the glass, to which the liquid drained and the container opened. He noticed that his hand wasn't cut. Besides that, the glass had been three or four inches thick. How had he possibly broken it? He ripped off the respirator, and walked around to find something to cover up with. Oddly enough, there were some of his clothes left on a chair. Although angry, he still had some wits about him, and glanced at a lab shower in the corner. He was covered in the liquid goo from the tank and he certainly didn't want to keep it on him, so showering sounded like a good idea. So he did, and he put on the clothes and began to run toward the door. Before he had time to register that he was running the door seemed to appear in front of him. Something in his mind clicked. This was all too familiar.

"There's only one person who could do this." He thought. "Clark."

He clenched his fist, conflicted. The one person who he hated the most right now, or maybe the second most, since whoever put him here in the first place wasn't exactly on the top of his list of friends, was Clark, and now he was like Clark.

Whitney pushed his thoughts aside and looked at the door. It was wide open. Someone must've planned for him to leave, he realized, but he had more important things to think about now. That could be dealt with later.

* * *

_**Later that evening . . . **_

Lana had worked for most of the day, and after calling Martha to tell her that she was eating out for supper, she and Pete went out for a wonderful evening and she returned later that night. She explained that she and Pete had gone to a dinner and a movie. After an hour of endless teasing and trying to watch TV, Chloe and Clark went out to the loft, and Lana decided to head to bed.

As Lana started to go upstairs she heard someone out in the yard. She thought Chloe and Clark were out in the loft, but she could've been wrong. Slowly opening the door and walking outside, she said "Clark? Chloe?" but there was no answer. Walking further out onto the front bridge she noticed a light on in the loft. It looked at though Chloe and Clark were there after all. Shutting the front door, she started to walk down the steps when someone grabbed her. Her eyes were covered. "Guess who?" A familiar voice said. She knew that voice. She remembered it from somewhere. "Oh my God, Whitney?" Turning around, sure enough, he was there.

Seeing Lana there suppressed Whitney's anger toward Clark temporarily.

"But you're dead!" she cried.

"No, I survived. Lana, I was being held in a lab somewhere, for how long, I don't know. Tonight I managed to escape, and luckily I was close to Smallville," he said. "It was the thought of you that kept me going. I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, but there's something you should know."

"Now we can go back to the way we were, Lana, before I left." Whitney said, holding her hands.

"Actually we can't. That's what I need to tell you."

Whitney's facial expression turned fierce. "What do you mean we can't?"

"I'm seeing someone." she began.

"Clark." Whitney spat. She hadn't needed to say it. "It should've been so obvious anyway." He thought. "Here she is, staying at Clark's, of all places. But why? Where did Nell go? Lana hadn't moved in with Clark because of…because she was…pregnant…had she? No, he couldn't think about that. It hurt too much."

"I knew it. I knew that as soon as I left you'd go out with him." Whitney exclaimed, both angry and hurt. Immediately it came to him how he could use his newfound powers to his benefit. "Lana, I know why you love Clark, and I can see why, but you don't have to settle for him anymore. You and I can be together, because I'm like Clark now, so nothing can be between us."

Lana winced. She wondered what he meant by that. Suddenly he picked her up.

"See? I'm strong now." He said, and set her down. "And I'm fast too." With that he disappeared and reappeared with freshly picked flowers. "You can love me."

It was a request so pleading and innocent, yet so deranged. But she wouldn't take it. "Whitney, I don't love you anymore, and this…this…whatever it is…doesn't change anything."

Whitney's eyes lit up with a fire that Lana had never seen before. They went from blue to neon green and back again. "Clark will pay for this." Whitney claimed.

"It's not Clark," she cried, with fear. Her eyes brimmed over with tears. She couldn't really tell Whitney that it was Pete who she loved, could she? Who would Whitney hurt more? Immediately Pete came to mind. Come to think of it, maybe she let Whitney think it was Clark because for some odd, inexplicable reason, she believed that Clark would be invincible, unaffected, like he seemed to be all the times he _was_ there for her. "Besides, Whitney, you're not yourself. What happened to you?"

"I am myself, Lana. You're the one who's not yourself. Clark is going to pay, and then I'll make you see that I'm the one you love."

And with that he sped off, leaving Lana to feel the breeze he left behind.

"Whitney," she thought. "What's happened to you?"

**_A Few minutes earlier…_**

Chloe and Clark were in the loft. Clark was looking through his telescope.

"So Clark, where was it?" Chloe asked.

"Where was what?" Clark looked confused.

"Your star. You know."

"Oh." Clark replied, blushing. "There." He pointed into a slightly empty spot in the sky that seemed to be surrounded by stars. She gazed at it. Seeing it, she felt compassion and empathy for Clark. He saw the look and held her in his arms.

Just as they were getting comfortable, Clark heard a noise outside. Both he and Chloe tiptoed out to see who it was, but all they saw was a blur and felt a breeze pass them. Picking Chloe up, Clark quickly took off to follow the blur.

They ended up at the graveyard. Clark and Chloe both shivered. This had been the place of many unfortunate events the past year. Chloe rubbed the sides of her arms as a slight chill went up her spine.

"It looks as if we lost it." Clark said.

Chloe's curiosity started to get the best of her, and she started to think. "Clark, that person or thing - whatever it is - ran just like you!"

Clark went pale. Chloe was right. He hoped it wasn't another meteor mutant, because if they had the same powers he did, he didn't know if he could stop them. Then another thought came to him. What if it was actually another survivor of his home planet? He didn't know if he could deal with that.

"Hello . . . Earth to Clark Kent! What exactly is going on inside that head of yours?"

Clark snapped out of it. Chloe took him by the arm and as always, began her investigation. But in an instant, she fell. Quickly, he caught her. Immediately, however, he felt a slight wave of nausea. He could see the veins in his hands turn green and it was most definitely not a good sign.

"Clark." Whitney said.

"But you're dead!" Clark mumbled, in shock.

"You're going to wish I was." Whitney threatened. "You're going to wish that you never messed with my girl."

Suddenly the grass in front of Clark lit on fire. Clark looked at Whitney. Oh no. Whitney's eyes were glowing, just as his did when he used his heat vision, except that Whitney's were glowing green. However, Whitney looked surprised.

"How did I do that?" Whitney thought. "It was like I was really mad and this heat built up behind my eyes and the grass set on fire."

Whitney stood for a second, a little startled.

Clark used the opening to stamp the fire out.

"I'll figure out what it is later." Whitney decided. "Right now, I have something to do."

Immediately after stamping out the fire, Clark couldn't breathe. He felt his chest begin to clamp and tighten. His palms were sweaty and his head was pounding. Whitney took advantage of Clark's apparent weakness and picked him up by the throat. Clark desperately tried to breathe. Chloe kicked Whitney in the back, surprising him more than anything and causing him to drop Clark. A grateful Clark grasped at his throat.

Chloe was angry. "Try that again, you son of a …" she yelled at Whitney.

But Clark cut her off. "He's getting back up! We're gonna have to run for it!"

"Clark, what's wrong? You can kick his ass!"

"No, Chloe, I can't. Something's wrong with him and it has to do with Kryptonite. We're gonna have to run."

"Figures." Chloe muttered.

Both of them ran out of the graveyard. Clark immediately began to feel better and ran faster until they reached the loft, but even there, neither felt particularly safe. If Whitney had Clark's powers, he could be anywhere at any time and nobody would know. They decided to head into the house and to keep Whitney's reappearance from Lana until they had it at least somewhat figured out.


	7. Unraveling The Threads

**_Chapter 7 - Unraveling the Threads_**

Gabe woke up to a loud crash. Baffled by what could make such noise at the Kent's he stood up and went to investigate. Chloe had heard it too. She had no idea what it could be. Then, she too stood up, and raced out in her pajamas to investigate the problem.

Investigate indeed. Chloe was in positive shock at the dilemma that faced her. Clark was floating a meter above his bed and his alarm clock was in pieces. She immediately heard footsteps that she recognized as her fathers. "Crap!" she thought.

She raced over and shook and smacked and moved Clark but nothing woke him. As a last resort she called his name. The footsteps were getting closer. She pushed the door closed until it was ajar. "Clark!" she yelled. Immediately his eyes popped open and he realized what he was doing.

"Oh no! I'm going to break another bed!" thought Clark as he opened his eyes and began to fall. "Crap. Crap. Crap. No."

Then suddenly he was hanging in the air. He was . . . floating . . . by sheer will. Chloe looked on in amazement. A slight knock at the door broke the trance they both were in. Chloe snapped out of it and caught the door before it opened fully and Clark, with his concentration broken, fell to the bed. Finally Gabe managed to get into the room. Clark and Chloe put on a convincing smile and hoped it worked.

Gabe swore he had just seen Clark fall from floating in the air. Convinced it was the stress he deemed it impossible. Looking over he noticed the alarm clock in pieces on Clark's bureau. What did this boy eat? "All right, you two. No more horseplay."

"Yes Dad." Chloe said. Clark nodded. And with that Gabe left. Clark let out the breath he had been holding for so long. Chloe did the same. Then, without warning, Chloe tackled him to the bed.

They laid there for what seemed like ages, until Clark made a remark.

"That's pretty good Chlo," he said, impressed that she had surprised him.

Then they kissed. Chloe looked at Clark, then at his boxers, and smiled provocatively.

"Clark! Chloe! Lana! You're going to be late for school!" his mom yelled.

Clark silently cursed his mom and shooing Chloe out he dressed and met her and Lana in the kitchen for breakfast.

Today, Clark had deliberately missed the bus so he could run Chloe to school. Waiting until after Lana had left, he picked up Chloe and ran them through the back roads to school. Chloe happily enjoyed the breeze. Close to school, Clark began to slow down. Just as they were about to enter the normal chaos occurring in the school's parking lot, there was a blur and Whitney appeared.

"Hello Clark," he said. His mind had thought of a new plan since last night. He smirked at Clark and crossed his arms. "I wonder what people would do if they knew how you really got to school so fast?"

Clark let Chloe down, and on instinct went to throw a punch at Whitney. Whitney caught Clark's hand Clark's veins immediately started to bulge out. Clark winced from the horrid pain, and suddenly Whitney let go. "I'll be watching you, Kent." he said, and disappeared.

Clark's first class was geology. Unknown to him, there was a lab. He sat with Chloe, Pete and Lana on his side. He and Chloe were always lab partners. Along with the class he listened as the teacher explained the lab.

"You will be examining different types of rocks. You have three rocks, two sets on each lab bench. You and a partner must examine each rock, and from its properties, you must decide which rock it is. I would also like you to classify it as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic, and as a silicate, carbonate, etc. Once you have that finished, . . . "

Here came the dreaded words for Clark. "You will receive one of these." The teacher pointed to a large chunk of all too familiar green rock. "You will examine one of these and describe its properties. I remind you that properties include color, hardness, luster, magnetism, and density, but are not limited to that. Then I expect you to categorize it as close as you can to your text categories. I suggest you write down your observations first. Then you can finish the lab at home if you need to. I expect it to be passed in tomorrow, complete with all ten post-lab questions."

"Marvelous," Clark thought. It really wasn't his day. Now he had both this and Whitney to worry about. And he still hadn't figured out a way to tell Lana about Whitney yet. Sighing, he decided that he'd deal with it later. Right now this lab posed a problem. He figured maybe if he did the first part of the lab, maybe he could skip the next. Or Chloe could do it and he could get the results.

Chloe and Clark started the lab, and they found that the rocks were granite, shale and marble. Now came the dreaded part. Lana went up to get the rock and brought back Chloe and Clark a rock too. As she neared, he felt more and more nauseated. Calming himself, he kept repeating, "It's okay, you'll get through it. Don't think about the pain."

"Clark, are you okay?" asked Lana.

"Yeah I'm…fine."

"Well if you're sure." Lana handed the rock to him. Immediately he felt his skin burn when he touched it. It felt like a hot coal.

"Chloe." He whispered, and began to hand it to her.

He was really sure things couldn't get worse but he should have known he was wrong. The sight of Chloe was enough to make him shiver. She was clutching her stomach in pain and her other hand was cradling her head. The thing that scared him the most was the fact that her veins were popped out and green, just like his. He dropped the rock from shock and it broke into a million pieces. He started to feel a bit of relief and so did Chloe, from the look on her face.

"Mr. Kent. Ms. Sullivan. What is the meaning of this?" asked their geology teacher.

"I don't feel very well," Clark stammered. "And neither does Chloe. We think our rock sample might be contaminated." He congratulated himself on such a good cover up.

"Can we get the results from Pete and Lana?" Chloe asked.

"No, you will obtain another sample and remain here until you finish this lab."

Clark nodded, and the teacher went away for a minute to help one of the lab groups.

"Okay, Chloe, I'm going to go get another rock. Just try to ignore the pain. Somehow we can do this." He whispered.

"Easy for you to say. I feel like I'm going to die." Chloe whispered back.

"I built up a tolerance, I know, but we have to do this."

"Why Clark? Why not just tell the teacher that you're allergic?"

"And that you are too? Gee, wait a minute now. 'Hey Mr. Grant, by the way I happen to be an alien and this stuff hurts me, so can I not do this lab? Oh and my friend Chloe, something happened to her and she's got this reaction to it too. That would go over really well."

"Reaction to what Mr. Kent?" Mr. Grant asked, suddenly appearing behind Clark the way teachers do.

Clark paled. "Nothing," he squeaked.

Chloe had a plan and she figured it was now or never. "Mr. Grant, Clark can't do this lab because he's got a reaction to those rocks. It's one of his allergies." Chloe said, loud enough for the teacher to hear but not the rest of the class.

Mr. Grant eyed them closely. "Then how come it's not listed on his school profile?"

"Um, because it's recent?"

Mr. Grant just looked at Chloe sternly, and told her and Clark to finish their lab and stop trying to weasel out of it.

After he left, Clark continuously gave Chloe the death glare.

"Clark, quit it. You could really fry me like that," she whispered.

"That would be bad how?" Clark said sarcastically.

Clark, annoyed, slowly walked up to get the offending piece of rock and bring it back to the lab station. He could barely bring himself to touch it, and when he finally did, it hurt like hell, but he would simply have to do the lab and get it over with. Bringing it over to the bench he laid it down on one side and then he walked to the other side. A wave of dizziness began to hit Chloe. She looked at Clark for his reaction. She had to give it to him, if he was hurting, he certainly didn't show it. To her, it seemed, the pain just got worse every second.

"Ms. Sullivan, are you going to do the lab too or just stand there?" Mr. Grant asked.

"I..." she gasped before fainting.

"Chloe!" Clark cried, caught her before she hit the floor.

Mr. Grant checked Chloe's pulse and her breathing. Both were irregular, so he asked Pete to help bring her to the infirmary.

"I will bring her to the infirmary. You stay here and finish that lab. And I warn you, I better not come back and find that you've done nothing."

He left, and the class erupted into the usual chatter that happened when a teacher left class. Clark wrote down a few observations from looking at the kryptonite before his eyes hurt. To determine hardness, density, and some of the other properties he had to go closer, and he didn't want to. Not that Chloe could have either. She had very low tolerance to it. He sighed and tried to remember what the hardness was like when he brought it over, but all he could remember was the intense pain.

Without warning Mr. Grant came back, and everyone went silent. Then the bell rang, and everyone ran out of the lab to get to their next class. Pete looked at Clark, and after sharing a knowing glance, he left.

"Ms. Sullivan is with the nurse now. She seems to be okay. Is that all you have written so far? You're not going to get many marks for that. You have many properties left out."

Clark went to touch the rock. The pounding became stronger and stronger and louder and louder, and somehow he touched it and examined it, and noted it was H glass. When he pulled back, he noted the surprised look on the teacher's face. He looked at his hands, and immediately became horrified. His veins were worse than before. Suddenly Chloe's excuse had become a blessing. "I...am allergic to them Mr. Grant." Clark said.

The kindness of the teacher began to surface. "I'm sorry Clark. I didn't realize. I thought it was an excuse made up by Chloe. I have to say I've never seen anything like this before."

The nausea was starting to catch up to Clark. It's ok sir. You didn't know. But…I'd appreciate if you'd refrain from mentioning this to anyone else.

"It's an unusual request, but sure, I can do that." The teacher took the rock and put it back with the others. "Don't worry about the lab. You and Ms. Sullivan can get the results from someone if you are able."

Clark nodded his head, extremely grateful. "Thanks." He said.

"Not a problem."

Clark took his sheet and ran to the infirmary before he was caught out of class. Chloe was sitting up. She seemed ok. "I guess we had better get to class," he said, and Chloe reluctantly nodded, getting up and grabbing her book bag.

* * *

Lunchtime, Chloe, Clark, Lana and Pete were sitting together. 

"Hey Clark, nice cover up in the lab." Lana said, with a tad of sarcasm. She received a glare from all. "What?" she said. Then she sighed. "You know what? I'm going to get a drink."

Immediately Clark turned to Chloe. "What the heck was that Chloe?"

"Why don't you tell me?"

"Yeah what the hell was going on there?" Pete asked.

"Well, I felt really sick, and my head was pounding."

"And your veins turned green."

"They what?"

"Chloe, you just experienced what happens to me every time I'm near that stuff."

"Oh great, I get the weakness, but I don't get any of your crazy powers! Not fair!"

"This isn't a joke Chloe."

"Tell me about it. I now belong on my Wall of Weird."

"I thought you gave that up after you found out about Clark." Pete stated.

"Um well, yeah I kind of . . . well . . . "

Clark looked at her piercingly.

"Hey it helps Clark save people right?"

The guys knew they were beat. Chloe was right.

"Let's talk about this later." Clark suggested.

"Later? Why not now?" Chloe fumed. "I'm the new addition to the wall, and preferably I would like to find out why."

"Who's the new addition to the wall?" Lana asked as she returned.

Lana waited for an answer, but no one wanted to give one. They all went back to eating dinner, and didn't discuss the topic any more at lunch.

* * *

_At the farm . . . _

Clark and Chloe had come home from school and immediately went to the loft to talk about what had happened. However, Lana had followed them, and therefore they couldn't talk about anything. Now it was nearing suppertime and Lana had announced that she had to go to the Talon. By then it was too late.

"Clark!" He heard his dad call out. "I need a hand over here."

He saw his dad kneeling alone next to the tractor, and immediately knew what his dad wanted. Earlier that morning, Clark had heard Gabe say that today he'd be going job-hunting, so Clark speeded over, lifting the tractor as soon as he reached it. "This ok, Dad?"

Jonathon looked at Clark with surprise, fear, and anger on his face. And then Clark realized why. Gabe had not, in fact, left to look for a job today. Jonathon was showing Gabe the work that needed to be done around the farm that he could help with. Clark mistakenly assumed that what he had heard earlier was true and ran to help his dad. Uh oh. He immediately let go of the tractor and tried to look innocent. It hit the ground with a thump.

"This is what you call being extremely careful?" Jonathon asked Clark, very sarcastically, while Gabe looked uncomfortable.

Gabe looked at Jonathon for answers. Jonathon knew he had to give them. He led Gabe inside the house and Clark followed. They were at the table, Gabe still in shock, when Chloe walked through the door.

"Clark, I brought your backpack in. Did you get the tractor fix . . . hey what's wrong with Dad? And why are you all sitting there and looking at me like . . . "

"Chloe, you may want to sit down." Clark said. "I messed up pretty bad."

"Actually Clark, I think it might be better if you went to your room." Jonathon said.

Clark looked surprised. "What?" he mouthed in disbelief.

Martha looked at Clark. "What your father means is that you and Chloe should go somewhere else in the house until we've had this discussion with Gabe." Martha said.

"Now I didn't say…" Jonathon began.

Martha glared at him. Jonathon sighed and gave in.

Chloe and Clark headed upstairs, both knowing that Clark had just gotten away easily, but he was in for it later.

Jonathon twiddled his thumbs nervously.

"Well, Gabe." Jonathon cleared his throat. "I'm going to tell you what just happened but before you do, understand that you cannot tell anyone. It would put both you and our son at risk."

Gabe acknowledged this with a nod.

"Well, see, Clark's not like other kids. He . . . well . . . he . . . we found him . . . on our way home in the cornfield . . . on the day of the meteor shower."

Jonathon cleared his throat again. This was harder than he thought. "Our truck flipped and we found him. We found…"

Martha put her hand on Jonathon's. She knew how hard this was for him.

"...a spaceship with him." Martha finished. "Gabe, Lionel helped us adopt Clark so we could keep him. He's…different."

Jonathon continued. "He's…not from around here."

Gabe looked shocked. Everyone waited in anticipation for his response. It was fear, to get out of there. He wondered what he had gotten himself into. He stood up quickly, the chair falling over behind him, and immediately headed toward the upstairs to the house, fully intending to get Chloe and get the hell away. The first thing that went through his mind was that Chloe loved Clark…she loved a…an alien. That thought really bothered him. He was ready to leave, but a voice kept niggling at him, telling him that he hadn't heard the entire story, and to at least listen to the rest of the explanation first before judging.

"But an alien…" Gabe thought, conflicted. "If this is true, it's big news. Big, big, news."

He stood, staring at the hallway for a few seconds. Neither Martha nor Jonathon made an attempt to stop him. Maybe somehow, they knew that whether out of curiosity or out of respect, Gabe would sit down again. They were right. He walked back, picked up the chair and sat down. He was still nervous, still afraid, but he braced himself for the rest of the story.

Jonathon sat with his hands laid on the table. Martha sat up straight and grasped her hands together.

"He was three years old when we found him." Martha continued. "We took his ship and stashed it in the storm cellar, but not before picking up Lionel and a young Lex who was exposed to radiation, and driving them to the hospital. Lionel offered to repay us and we used his offer to get adoption papers for Clark."

Gabe, still a little unnerved, continued to listen.

"I hate to tell you this, but…" Jonathon said, looking at Martha for her consent. She nodded. "…we can't have children. So Clark coming into our lives was like a…"

"Like a little gift from god." Martha said, tears forming in her eyes. "Soon after we learned that he could do things that normal children couldn't. At first it was simply walking in on him looking for a toy and lifting the couch to find it. After that we found out about his speed, when we used to find him in hiding places, he'd zip to another one and we'd have to go look for him again."

"As he grew up enough to go to school, Martha and I learned that we had to protect Clark, because he was special, and because of that many people would want to exploit him and hurt him. We had to teach him not to use his abilities in front of other children, that being especially hard when Clark was in kindergarten. I think too, that it made him feel lonelier, because he knew that he was different."

"He used to be drawing in class," Martha reminisced, "and the teacher would call us and say, 'No matter how many times I try to tell Clark that the sun is yellow, he persists in drawing it red.' We had to explain so many times that he didn't have a learning disability, but it was difficult to do. You can't exactly tell his teacher that he's from another planet."

"As he got older he became stronger and faster with each year. After a while he wanted to help me with the farm chores, and I couldn't really say no since, well, I had more of a chance of getting hurt than he did." Jonathon said, remembering a young Clark eager to help with the fence posts.

"When he grew older though, we noticed Clark was becoming increasingly lonely. He spent hours at the library researching other people who could do the same things he could, but never found anyone else exactly the same. Eventually Jonathon and I decided that we had to tell him who he was, because we couldn't keep it from him forever." Martha explained.

"How did he take it?" Gabe asked, genuinely concerned, even though he was still a little frightened.

"Not well. At first he didn't believe me. Then I showed him the spaceship and he became really angry with me. He ran somewhere and didn't come back until late that night. Even then he wouldn't talk to us. Eventually though, it blew over, thank God." Jonathon said, with relief.

Martha smiled, realizing that Gabe was starting understand how they felt about Clark.

Jonathon began to speak again. "It got harder to help him as he grew up. He had all of the problems of a normal teenager along with…others. I remember the day he came home and told us that he had seen through Pete in gym class. As a parent, what do you say to that? I had to help him as best I could, and surprisingly, we've been able to figure out everything so far."

Gabe started to admire Jonathon as a father. He started to wonder if had it been him, whether he would've been so accepting and strong himself.

"And there've been times when terrible things have happened, and we've had to deal with those too, like the time Clark ran away. We had no idea whether he would come back." Jonathon continued. "Sometimes he was really depressed because he blamed the meteor shower on himself."

"Why on earth would he do that?" Gabe wondered aloud.

"Because those rocks were pieces of his planet that came with him when the planet was destroyed. He feels responsible for the destruction they caused."

"We love Clark a lot, Gabe. Please keep his secret. If you tell he'll be taken away from us, used and exploited by the greed of others. He's our child and we don't want to lose him."

Gabe looked ahead in disbelief, although this disbelief was new. It was no longer fear, no longer a need to get away. It was disbelief at how selfless Martha and Jonathon had been. Gabe realized that Martha and Jonathon were in fact, just normal parents like him, albeit with a few differences. He couldn't help but wonder what he would've done in the same situation. Would he have been so noble as to take in a child that was left over from the death throes of a planet? He didn't know. But if he did, would he protect the child with all of his being, help him deal with all the situations Jonathon had? Yes, of course. And most of all, would he want to keep that child sheltered from the cruelty of the money hunters, and free from the labs that would constantly prod and poke and experiment on him? Yes, most definitely. He did not want to be the one to get the Kent's child taken away from them, the same way that he would never want anyone to take Chloe away from him. She was his pride and joy, one of the only things that made every day worth waking up for: his wonderful, beautiful daughter. So no, he wasn't going to tell.

"I'll keep your confidence. You have no worries." He said.

"We'd understand if you didn't want to stay here anymore." Martha said.

"Don't worry about that. As a parent, I can understand where you're coming from, and I don't believe there is another more caring, understanding, and selfless family to be around. I would be honored to continue staying here.

"Thank you, Gabe." Martha said. "That means a lot to us."

Jonathon nodded and smiled, and the two grown men shook hands. Jonathon thought that maybe things would turn out okay after all.

Up in Clark's room Chloe was sitting next to Clark.

"So what did they say?" Chloe asked. "Do I have to leave?"

"Why don't you go down and ask!" Clark teased her.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Come on Mr.-I-Am-the-Ultimate-Eavesdropper, tell me what happened!"

Clark smirked at her, as if to mock her protesting.

Chloe glared at him. "Clark…"

"No, you don't have to move, Chloe" Clark said with a smile, "It all worked out for the best."


	8. My Boyfriend's Back

**_Chapter 8 - My Boyfriend's Back_**

_The next day…_

Lex heard his cell phone ring in his jacket pocket, and pulled it out. He was having a good day, until he picked it up.

"Lex." It was Lionel. Lex sighed.

"I sent the business report to you yesterday, dad. What's wrong with it now?"

"I'm not calling about the business report, Lex, you're too paranoid. I want you to meet me in Metropolis tonight to discuss the possibility of you coming to work at Luthorcorp."

"It's not really about me, is it dad?" Lex stated. "Just another publicity stunt for the media: another welcome back to Lionel Luthor from his travels. Where did you go for so long anyway?"

"I can't give away all of my secrets, Lex."

Lex had expected that answer. He had steeled himself up for this conversation.

"I kind of figured that you wouldn't tell me, so I took the liberty of getting the information myself. Tell me, dad, what's so important in Indonesia that you have to make private visits there every week?"

Lex was met with a chuckle. "My, my, you've certainly done your homework. You're starting to become like your old man. Keep it up, Lex, and you might even replace me one day."

"Luthorcorp means nothing to me, dad, not when you don't trust me. Now, I have more important things to do, so go find someone else to sucker."

With that, Lex closed his cell phone.

* * *

After school was finished, Chloe Sullivan sat in the office of the Torch, frantically searching for some way that Whitney could have returned. Clark was standing over her, equally as determined to find out how it was possible that Whitney hadn't died. Chloe was flipping through newspaper articles involving Whitney's death, as well as death reports in Indonesia. So far, she had come up empty.

Lana walked into the Torch with Pete. Walking up to Chloe's computer, she asked, "What are you researching today, Chloe?" Before Chloe could cover up the articles, Lana caught a glimpse. She turned pale.

"Are you ok, Lana?" Pete inquired.

"I'm…I'm…no." Lana whispered, and she proceeded to run out of the Torch. Pete ran after her.

"Lana, what's wrong?"

"It's Whitney. He's back. I thought no one else knew but Chloe had it up on her screen when I walked in. It just frightened me, since I've been trying to push it into the back of my thoughts all day."

"How is that possible?"

"I…I don't know. But he showed up in front of Clark's house last night. He's furious that I don't love him anymore. There's something wrong with him."

"I can help."

"No you can't, Pete. If you want my advice, steer clear of him at all costs. He's out for blood."

With that, she ran down the corridor, leaving Pete alone. He let Chloe and Clark know that he was leaving, and started to head home, hoping to call Lana.

In the Torch, Clark was now researching on his own computer. Chloe had stumbled upon something.

"This is interesting," she said. "Clark, look at this. Apparently Lionel Luthor was in Indonesia this week up until the day before Whitney returned."

Clark shuddered. Lionel's name always made him nervous, especially now that he could have something to do with Whitney's return.

"And another article here says that Whitney was reported as being in a coma after the huge blast." Chloe commented.

"Why would it be reported that Whitney was dead if he was in a coma? It doesn't make sense." Clark wondered.

"No, but this does. Apparently, the day that it was announced that Whitney died, guess who was in Indonesia?"

"Who?"

"Lionel Luthor. Apparently he opened a new research facility there that week." She turned the computer screen toward Clark so he could see the picture of Lionel shaking hands with the person who was clearly the manager of the new facility."

Clark swallowed, and immediately picked up the phone to dial Lex's cell.

* * *

Lana was driving her jeep in the now persistent rain towards Lex's mansion, hoping to find comfort there. It was so dark outside, as the clouds had covered most of the sky. She just hoped that she didn't run into Whitney.

Lex was about to take a shower, and again, his cell phone rang. "Damn that cell phone, he thought, as he picked it up. "Hello?"

"Lex, this is Clark."

"Clark, I hate to say this, but it is a less than ideal time to…"

"Just listen, Lex. Whitney is back."

"Dead people don't rise from the grave, Clark." Lex said, a bit skeptical.

"He was in the graveyard a couple of nights ago and tried to kill me and Chloe. Lex, there's something different about him. We think that he might be affected by the meteor rocks."

Lex stood there in awe. So Whitney really was back. He didn't know how Lana would take that.

"We did some digging and found out some information. Lex, you need to know this. Your father opened a new research facility in Indonesia, in the town near the place Whitney died. He opened it the week that it was announced that Whitney was MIA. That's not all. This week, up until the day before Whitney went after us in the graveyard your father was in Indonesia again, in the same town where that research facility is."

Somehow it didn't surprise him. He knew his father was a ruthless man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, even if a few kids were hurt or killed in the process. But now, his father's evasions on the phone made sense. Lex knew that his father had been in Indonesia this past week, and now he knew why. "Thanks for telling me Clark. I'll see if I can find out anything else and get back to you."

"Thanks Lex. Bye."

As he shut his cell, he heard a faint voice downstairs.

"I'm sorry miss, but you can't visit Mr. Luthor. He's unavailable currently."

Lex hauled on his bathrobe and went downstairs. "She can wait for me in my study. I won't be long," he said to the butler.

"As you wish, sir." With that the butler lead Lana to Lex's study.

Some fifteen minutes later, Lex came downstairs to find a very distraught Lana staring intently out the window.

"Lana, are you ok?" he asked. "You don't look well."

"Lex. Whitney is back, and he's after me. He's really violent; he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"I know."

"You do?"

"Clark just called and told me. I'm sorry Lana, but I'm afraid that it has something to do with my father."

"You're kidding."

"Would I lie to you? Lana, if you need protection, I'd be happy to offer it."

"No, Lex, that's not it. I appreciate the offer though. I just…Whitney showed up at Clark's house during the night and I don't really feel safe there right now. Would you mind if I stayed here for the night?"

"No, it's quite alright. I'll just give Gabe a call and let him know."

"Thanks," she replied.

Pete had followed Lana from the school. He was parked outside the Luthor mansion. Lana had gone in, but not come out. After an hour, he angrily drove away, furious at the fact that Lana would want to go to Lex for comfort, but not him. He didn't notice the shadowed figure hiding in the trees.

Next: Will Whitney attack? Chloe and Clark continue to investigate Whitney, and Chloe and Clark find out some new things about themselves.


	9. Clark vs Clark Two

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville nor am I affiliated with it.

**To Reviewers:** Again, thanks! Your comments are appreciated. I am glad that so many of you like the story.

**Chapter 9**

Lana was in the guest room, snoozing comfortably in a queen size bed. The rainstorm had become a lightning storm after midnight, but Lana was unaware.

Lex was pacing in his study. He had been unable to sleep and had gone to his study to do some research on his laptop. Still concerned about Lana, his mind was troubled with fearful thoughts about Whitney. So here he was now, pacing, because there was nothing he could do.

There was a crackle of thunder and a large crash. Lex's head shot up, and he looked around to see what it was. There, dripping, in his study doorway, stood Whitney. He looked mean and ready to kill.

"You!" he said. "You plotted with Clark didn't you! You always plotted to get Lana away from me, always tried to help Clark make points with her, and now you're holding her here. Where is she?"

"Calm down Whitney. I'm sure that we can talk this out rationally." Lex began.

Whitney zoomed over to Lex's laptop, and seeing the research about him, he picked it up and threw it as hard as he could through the wall. The laptop broke to pieces as it slammed through wall after wall after wall. Lex was amazed at Whitney's strength.

Lana was cowering in the guest room. She wanted to stay there, and not move. Then hopefully Whitney couldn't find her. But, she knew that it wasn't right. She knew that she couldn't let Lex, and his mansion, be destroyed on account of her. Getting dressed she reluctantly ran down to the study. "Whitney!" she cried. "I'm here. Now leave Lex alone!"

"This wimp?" Whitney asked. He looked at Lex and picked him up with one hand.

"Why are you here Lana? Don't you realize it was always Lex who tried to break us up? He always tried to keep us apart so Clark could have his chance with you. Don't you realize that?" Whitney spat.

Whitney then proceeded to throw Lex into a bookcase, which collapsed on top of him, leaving him immobile, but conscious.

Lana was afraid. She was more afraid than she had ever been in her life. Not only was she afraid of Whitney's new powers, but the fact that he had some new twisted obsession with her, or did he have it all along? Running as fast as she could, she had barely reached the doorway when Whitney appeared in front of her. "Going somewhere?" he asked.

His grin was menacing. Lana stopped and looked him in the eyes. They were neon green again. "What do you want from me?" Lana asked in desperation.

Whitney looked at her, somewhat hurt, so much so that Lana almost felt bad for him.

"I want you to love me again, Lana, like you used to."

"Whitney, I could never love you again, especially not now. You're a monster!"

Whitney's temper flared again.

"Is that so? Well, maybe you'll change your mind when this monster gets rid of Clark."

"I would like to see you try," Clark said challengingly, as he leaned against the doorframe. "I'm getting a bit sick of you hitting me around."

Clark had a partial red gleam to his eyes.

If it was a couple of years ago, Whitney might've been startled by Clark's sudden appearance in the doorway, but now, it just annoyed him. "Don't start with me, Kent…"

"Whitney, whatever problem you have with me, at least confront me with it, not Lana. You've beaten up the only girl you loved. Look at her."

Whitney looked at Lana. She was a pinnacle of bruises. She nodded in agreement with Clark.

Chloe stood hidden next to the doorway. Just a minute ago, Clark had heard the commotion with his enhanced hearing and rushed both of them to the mansion. They had a plan, albeit a very weak one, but if Whitney didn't notice her then it might work.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Whitney yelled at Clark.

"No! You know I'm right. If you want to hurt me so badly then why don't you? I'm right here!"

Whitney's eyes glowed and he zoomed toward Clark, who sped out of the way in time, leaving Whitney crashing into the wall. It just made him angrier.

Chloe got ready to carry out the plan. Pulling the large chunk of red kryptonite out of its already open lead box, she held it closer to Whitney. They had figured that if red makes Clark crazy and green hurts him then maybe green makes Whitney crazy and red hurts him. It was a good theory, and it was working. Whitney's veins began to bulge and turn red, and he cried out in pain and surprise. However, the large chunk of red kryptonite was taking its toll on Clark. He was trying to remain sensible, but was having a hard time. His eyes were becoming redder the longer he was exposed.

"How does it feel Whitney?" Clark asked. "I don't know how in the hell you got it, but since you have the power, now you have the weakness too."

Chloe shot Clark a glare. He shrugged. She had to hurry or Clark was going to go psycho again, as she so mildly put it. Somehow Whitney managed to get up and stumble down the hallway. Clark, very egotistical in the state he was in, zipped in front of Whitney before he could get very far, but immediately dropped to the ground when he began to feel the radiation that Whitney gave off. Then Chloe began to chase Whitney but he was far enough away to decrease the kryptonite's effects and he speeded away.

Lana walked out into the hallway. "Clark, how did you…get out of the way like that?" she asked.

"I'm a little more experienced than Whitney." He said under his breath.

"You're what?" Lana asked.

"What do you want me to say Lana? Do you want to know the truth or a candy coated version of it? I don't think you could handle the complete and total truth about me." Clark said.

"Alright, that's enough out of you." Chloe said, as she put the chunk of kryptonite back into the lead box and closed the lid. Immediately Clark returned to normal, and began to look nervous.

Lana looked from Clark to Chloe. She knew that there was something weird about Clark but every time she was close to finding it out, the clues would stop. Frustrated, she let out a sigh.

"Thanks Clark and Chloe for saving me." Chloe muttered, as Lana stomped past them up to her guest room.

"Um, I'm still here." Lex said, in a muffled voice.

"Oh, Sorry Lex." Clark said, and he and Chloe walked over and lifted the bookcase off of him.

"Thanks." Lex said as he brushed himself off. "You really showed Whitney."

"Yeah, I guess we did." Chloe said, with a smile. "Anyway, Lex, we had better be getting back to Clark's house. His parents are probably worried."

"Yeah." Clark agreed.

Lex brushed himself off. "Watch out for Whitney," he said.

"Don't worry. I don't think he'll be back for a while." Clark said, hoping that it wasn't wishful thinking.

The next morning…

Clark woke up to the ringing of the phone. It was quarter to eight in the morning. His parents were up but Chloe, Gabe and Lana were asleep. He figured he'd let someone else answer it, but apparently no one was in the kitchen because it continued to ring. After six rings, Clark sighed, and then ran downstairs to get the phone.

"Hello?"

"Clark, it's Pete. I'm really freaked out man."

"What? What's going on?"

"You're not going to believe this but this morning, I woke up and I was floating! Floating! I was so freaked out that I wouldn't go back to bed."

Clark paled. He ran his hand through his hair, and sighed. "Is that it? Are you okay?"

"What do you mean is that it? Holy crap, man!"

"Pete, I didn't mean it that way. I just wanted to know if anything else happened."

There was a pause. "Yeah. I stayed awake and thought that if I watched some TV then maybe I'd be alright. I found out that I couldn't even do that! Clark, I sat down and broke the couch! Then I picked up the remote and it broke. After that I got frustrated and walked back to my room, and when I walked in I noticed that the bed, too, was after breaking, probably from my earlier fall."

Clark pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, as if to think. "Alright, Pete, stay where you are and don't move. I'll be right there."

"Sure man, sure. Just hurry up ok? I'm freaking myself out."

"On my way."

Clark hung up the phone. He then ran upstairs, dressed, and left his parents a note that he was headed to Pete's and he'd see them later.

After super-speeding down God knows how many back roads, Clark stepped in front of Pete's house.

Pete opened the door almost instantly, and waved for Clark to come in.

"How do you think it happened?" Clark asked.

"I don't know." Pete said, and Clark noticed he had calmed down considerably. "Sorry Clark, I didn't mean to frighten you. I just…"

"Woke up and found out that you can do things that your best friend who's an alien can do. I got it."

Pete sighed.

Clark looked at Pete. "Well, until we figure out what's causing it, then you can at least enjoy it. I mean, you always did wish you could do what I could." Clark said, being optimistic.

That earned Clark a hard glare.

"Geez! I was just kidding." Clark said. "Anyway, I'm going to try and get you a little used to having strength before we go to school, because I don't want you breaking everything."

Pete nodded, and Clark began to explain how he controlled his strength. Pete practiced until it was time to leave for school.

At school…

When Clark and Pete walked into the Torch office, the first thing they noticed was the big mess. There were coffee cups broken, the mouse was squashed in two, and Chloe was sitting in a pile of ripped papers. Clark noticed that she was holding a taped up coffee mug, filled with the remains of a café mocha, which was currently soaking the tape that surrounded it. She started to lift it to her mouth when it too, broke into a million pieces, soaking her skirt along with it. Chloe looked as if she was going to cry, but she held back.

She looked at Clark meekly.

"Chloe, are you ok?" Clark asked, rushing to her.

"Yeah, great. The best I've ever been. How was your day, Clark?" she said sarcastically.

"Not great if you count Pete freaking out and calling me, and finding out that he has my strength and he can float."

"Wha..?" Chloe said.

"Yeah, we're going to have to investigate to try and figure out what's caused it." Clark said.

"You'll have to investigate. I can't do anything without breaking it." Chloe said sarcastically.

"My first period is math, and I can catch up on it anyway. Why don't I stay with you and help you learn how to control your new strength?"

Chloe nodded. She didn't like feeling helpless. The bell rang and Clark remained while Pete waved goodbye and left (carefully).

Clark looked intently at Chloe. "First, you'll need to calm down," he said.

She took a few deep breaths and nodded.

"Now, it's as easy as this. When you pick up something, imagine that you can and are holding it and not breaking it, like this."

With that, Clark picked up a CD case. He handed it to Chloe. She lasted about a second. Then it broke.

Clark rolled his eyes. It was going to be a long sixty minutes.

Halfway through Chloe's 'lesson' a knock was heard on the door of the Torch. It was Principal Reynolds.

"Chloe Sullivan! Open up the door this instant!" he demanded.

Chloe, already shaken, jumped up and ran towards the door, to which Clark stopped her and opened it himself.

Principal Reynolds stared daggers at Clark. "So this is where you are." He stated. "I don't take kindly to people skipping class, Mr. Kent. Therefore, I would advise that you march along to whatever class you have now and report to my office for a detention after school."

Clark's mouth dropped. "I can't have a detention after school," he thought. "What if Pete and Chloe…?"

"I asked Clark to stay and help with the paper, since I'm loaded with work this week." Chloe covered. "He's doing well in math anyway, so I figured that it wouldn't matter."

Reynolds raised his eyebrow. He pushed the door open a little more and witnessed the mess that Clark and Chloe had so carelessly forgotten to clean up.

"What's all this?" he asked.

"Um…erm…shit…" Chloe muttered under her breath. "I…err… was a little…frustrated this morning with the layout."

Now Reynolds looked really suspicious. Yet, he couldn't disprove what Chloe was saying, and Clark did write for the Torch. "Okay, I'll let you off with it this time, but next time, Ms. Sullivan, I expect you to control your temper. You're not in elementary school. And I expect that if Mr. Kent is going to miss any class for the Torch that the proper teacher be notified ahead of time and he gets his missed work."

A relieved Clark and Chloe both nodded.

Reynolds gave the room one last look and then walked down the hallway.

Chloe let out a huge sigh, and flopped down on the remaining intact chair.

"Chloe, no!" Clark said, but it was too late. The chair broke into pieces, and Chloe's butt hit the floor.

Clark ran his hand through his hair. "Lunch," he thought, "think of lunch."


	10. Dilemma

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Smallville, and I'm not affiliated with it.

**To Reviewers:** Thanks for all the neat comments and thanks for taking the time to write them! Sorry about the long wait. I had writer's block for awhile.

Chapter 10

Lunch, at school:

Chloe walked in with a lunch bag and sat next to Clark and Pete in their usual spot.

For a few minutes, no one said anything, but Clark broke the silence.

"So, any idea how this happened? Because personally I'm kind of weirded out that you both have my strength."

Chloe and Pete shared a glance. Clark caught their looks.

"What? What is it?"

Pete pulled up his sleeve to show Clark his scar.

Clark looked at it, unbelieving for a few minutes and then looked over at Chloe.

"Do you have one too?" he said.

Chloe nodded, and pulled up the back of her shirt a little, enough for Clark to see.

"When did you get it?" Clark asked, almost as if waiting to confirm what he already knew.

Pete gulped. "In the caves, the night we went camping."

Clark nodded. He had figured that. "How come you didn't tell me?"

"We didn't want you to worry about us." Chloe said. She realized now that keeping this from Clark wasn't the best decision that she and Pete had made.

Clark took a deep breath, and looked at Pete, then Chloe. "So you couldn't have mentioned it this morning either? Pete, I know you said you had no idea how you got my strength."

"Clark, I didn't try that, I was in shock, and I didn't even think…"

"Save it, Pete." Clark said coolly. "Something this important, and you didn't even tell me. You know, you're right in thinking that I would've worried about you. I would've. But what if something had happened to either of you because of this?"

"Clark, calm down. We're attracting attention." Chloe said.

Sure enough, most of the cafeteria was looking at their table. Clark shook his head with disbelief and didn't say anything else.

After everyone had stopped looking at them, Pete asked, "Clark, did you tell your parents about the scar on your chest yet?"

"No." Clark said.

"Well, then how is that any different?" Pete reasoned.

"Because it is."

"That's bull, Clark. Pure and total bull. You thought that they would worry so you didn't tell them did you?" Chloe said.

"That's not the point!" Clark exclaimed.

"Yes, it is!" Chloe answered, equally as stubborn. "Look, Clark, I don't really care how pissed you are, but regardless of what we did or didn't tell you, we need you to help us out. You're used to dealing with this, and we aren't. And I'll be damned if I'm going home and breaking everything because you're upset."

Clark sighed, and stabbed a piece of meat with his fork. There was no way to win with Chloe involved. "I guess you're right."

Chloe smiled, knowing that she had won.

"But I don't know what to tell you. I mean, it's hard to describe how to control something that I've been controlling all my life." Clark said.

Suddenly a spoonful of potato flew over toward the group's table. Chloe saw it out of the corner of her eye, and immediately reacted, moving quickly out of the way before the projectile hit her. Almost too quickly. Clark's eyes widened. He immediately stood up and grabbed Chloe's sleeve.

"Come, on. We have to leave the cafeteria now."

"Clark, I haven't finished my lunch." Chloe stated.

"Bring it with you," he said. "You have a lunch bag."

The three teens stood up, and taking their lunches, walked to the Torch.

"Want to tell me what that was about?" Chloe fumed as soon as the group was situated in the Torch.

"Chloe, my strength is not the only thing you have." Clark stated.

"Oh, that's funny, Clark. I move out of the way of a spoonful of potato and suddenly you think I can break the sound barrier. Need I remind you I've been avoiding food thrown at me for years?" Chloe said.

"Chloe, no offense, but I think that having to hold back all my life should have given me some idea of what was normal and what wasn't."

"Right, because us normal people don't know what the hell normal is. Is that what you're trying to say, Clark?"

"Well you're not exactly normal anymore Chloe, so you're going to have to deal with it." Clark snapped.

"Don't go laying into me just because you had to spend most of your life hiding yourself from everyone." Chloe said sarcastically.

Both looked at each other angrily.

"Ok that's enough!" Pete said. "Geez, you two sound married."

That got Pete a sharp look from both.

"This is just great." Chloe complained. "Not only do we have to deal with this, we still have to solve the problem of Whitney."

"I meant to ask you guys how you even knew about Whitney in the first place." Pete said.

"We followed him to the graveyard a few nights ago." Clark said. "We didn't know it was him at first, until he attacked me and began to ramble about taking Lana away from him."

"Yeah, it's probably a good idea to fill you in, Pete." Chloe said, putting aside her annoyance at Clark for a second. "First of all, we know that red kryptonite hurts Whitney. To add to that, we know that Whitney's condition is caused by green kryptonite. That's why Clark and I haven't been able to fight him or bring him in. We also discovered, after you left the Torch, that Whitney was declared to be MIA, when in fact he was in a coma. It turns out that Lionel Luthor was visiting Indonesia, to open a new research facility the week of Whitney's 'death'. He was also in Indonesia this week before Whitney returned here and attacked us."

"I knew it had something to do with the Luthors. They're always up to no good." Pete said, a little pissed. Then he realized something. "Wait a minute. Red kryptonite hurts Whitney? How in the hell did you figure that out?"

"We went to Lex's last night, when I heard Whitney attacking Lex and Lana. Chloe had an idea to try out red kryptonite to see if it hurt Whitney."

"Is Lana ok?" Pete asked, concerned, although still slightly jealous that she had stayed at Lex's.

"Oh she's fine." Chloe said sarcastically. "She didn't really thank us for saving her though."

"I'm sure she had a reason." Pete defended.

"Maybe, if that reason is her being angry because I stopped Clark from giving away his secret." Chloe quipped.

Clark glared at her. "I was…"

"…under the influence." Pete said laughing a little.

"Anyway, Chloe is a little biased." Clark said, "Lana was upset after we chased Whitney away, but I'm not sure if it was because she was afraid or if it was because she wanted to know my secret."

"She seems a little curious lately." Pete said. "But she's usually not that obvious with you, Clark."

"Well, she kind of had reason to be, because I didn't think and moved at super speed. Lana asked me after how I did it…" Clark began, only to have his sentence finished by Chloe.

"…and Clark responded with a remark kind of like he didn't think that she could handle the truth." Chloe reminded with satisfaction. "Kind of reminds me of that movie 'A Few Good Men'…You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!" She giggled to herself silently.

"Yeah. Anyway, can we get off the topic?" Clark asked, annoyed.

Both Pete and Chloe waited patiently for Clark to say something.

"So…getting back to our original conversation, we're going to have to figure out why you two are getting my abilities."

"Aren't the scars enough of an explanation?" Chloe asked.

"I still think we should ask Jor-el and Lara about it." Clark said.

"Yeah, definitely." Pete agreed.

Chloe gave a small nod and looked up.

After school…

Clark walked into the Torch office, where Chloe was diligently working on the paper.

"So, Clark, when were you planning on heading to the caves?" Chloe inquired before he had walked up to her.

"After supper. I have to explain this to my parents first."

Chloe nodded. "Well I'm staying here for a bit longer, yet. I have to finish up some things."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to break the keyboard?"

Chloe went to playfully punch Clark but he caught her hand before she had a chance.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I wouldn't want you to hurt your hand." Clark quipped to her.

Chloe laughed. "Well maybe I wouldn't have."

"You know, Chloe, you actually sound like you're enjoying this. What changed? You sounded really freaked out at lunch."

"Well, let's just say that I had a little while to think about it, and it's not too bad." Chloe said.

Clark grinned.

Chloe grinned back.

"Anyways, I'm going to head home now."

"Running, I take it." Chloe said.

"Well…yeah." Clark said. "By the way, don't forget to tell Pete when to meet us at the caves."

"I won't," replied Chloe, "but I have to get a goodbye kiss before you go."

Clark blushed. Chloe stood up and they both began to kiss. Halfway through, Chloe pulled away.

"Chloe, what's wrong?" Clark asked.

"Oh my god you're cold!" she said, holding her shoulders and quickly looking around for something to warm up.

"What?"

"C-Clark, look in the mirror." She said, shivering.

Clark walked over to the mirror. He noticed his lips were blue and his skin was turning a deathly pale color.

"What the?" he exclaimed.

Chloe, upon looking for something to warm up, had found a thermometer.

Clark had barely turned around when she stuffed in into his mouth. Clark grabbed it out of his mouth and looked at it. The red line was at the bottom. He went to hand it back to her when it broke in two.

Then he looked back into the mirror. "Oh, no." he said, and muttered a small, "Chloe-I've-got-to-go-I'll-see-you-at-supper," before a gust of wind went through the room and Chloe's papers went flying everywhere.


	11. Answers, or maybe not

**Disclaimer:** I don't know Smallville and I am not affiliated with it.

**To all my reviewers:** Thank you for reading and reviewing my story! Your comments are always welcome and always appreciated.

**To Anarra:** Hopefully this chapter will answer your question. You will find out how and why Chloe and Pete received Clark's powers in this chapter. As for when they received them, Chloe and Pete were hit by a light at the caves in an earlier chapter while camping. It started then, but never became evident for Chloe until the lab and the Chapter 9. It never became evident to Pete until he woke up floating. Therefore, it took some time for the abilities to actually manifest themselves. Hopefully that'll clear things up for everyone who is reading.

Chapter 11

When he reached home, Clark took in a deep breath. Now snow was actually forming around him, and it was starting to scare him.

He walked past the truck and the windshield frosted over. He shook his head and began to walk up the steps to the house. The first one broke in half. Clark gave a silent curse.

Suddenly he felt a giant sneeze coming on. He didn't really understand it, since he hardly ever sneezed, if at all, but something told him to get away from the house. He zipped down the driveway and stopped. Then he let out a giant sneeze. He looked in front of him, and realized he had stopped in front of one of the trees. It now had a covering of snow, and was frozen solid. He looked at his hands. They were back to their normal color.

"Weird." He thought, and walked back to the house, stepping over the broken stair and walking inside.

Immediately he smelled cooked dinner and one of the apple pies that his mom was so famous for. Sitting at the table was his father, reading a newspaper. He looked up when Clark walked in.

"So, how was your day, son?" Jonathon asked.

Clark gave him a look as if that wasn't the question to ask.

Martha looked at Clark. "Honey, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Where're Gabe and Lana?" Clark asked.

"Gabe went to Metropolis today for an interview, and Lana went to the Talon to do her shift." Martha said. "Why?"

Clark looked at his parents.

"Because I've got a really big problem. Actually, I have two really big problems."

Jonathon looked up with new interest.

Clark decided to just be blunt. "Mom, Dad, Chloe and Pete have my abilities."

Jonathon almost dropped his mug, and Martha grabbed his hand to steady him.

"For how long?" Jonathon asked.

"I don't know. They don't have all of my abilities, but the ones they do have, we kind of just found out about them today."

"Kind of?"

"Well during a lab in geology class a day or so ago, Chloe had the same reaction to kryptonite as me, and today Pete woke up floating and Chloe broke everything in sight!"

Jonathon immediately appeared unconcerned about Chloe or Pete. "You did a lab with kryptonite? How did you manage that?"

Clark became uncomfortable. "Well, I kind of dropped the kryptonite, but we had to stay and finish the lab anyway. Chloe fainted before we could start and I ended up having to tell the teacher that I am allergic to it."

"Clark, you should have come to us. Who knows what could happen if someone finds out?" Jonathon stated.

Clark began to look a little irritated at his Dad's immediate jump to a lecture.

"Jonathon..." Martha warned, catching Clark's look.

Jonathon looked down at his newspaper. It was crumpled in his hand.

He took a deep breath and looked at Clark again. "So how did you say Chloe and Pete got the same abilities as you?"

"It definitely happened at the caves. Just before Jor-el and Lara came forward the light blasted out and hit them too." Clark said, conveniently leaving out the part about the scars.

"Clark, when I had your abilities, the aftereffects were severe. I had heart problems, remember? This may seem ideal, but your friends' lives may be in danger." Jonathon warned.

"Dad, Lara already said that my abilities shouldn't hurt anyone."

"I still don't know how much I would trust them, Clark. It seems too sudden of a turn around."

"Are you suggesting that they're lying?"

"No. I'm telling you to be careful. This may just be a last attempt to sway you to their will."

"Regardless, I'm going to the caves tonight, with Chloe and Pete, and we're going to ask Jor-el some questions."

Jonathon became protective. "Well we're going too, then."

"Dad…"

"No buts, Clark. Jor-el and Lara may seem to have good intent now, but I just can't trust him after everything that's happened."

Clark nodded. There was no way that he was winning this one.

"What's the second problem, sweetie?" Martha asked.

Just then, Chloe walked in, and everyone looked up.

"Hi." Chloe said, as she laid her purse and book bag down. "So, Clark, did you tell your parents about your temperature dropping trick yet?"

"I was about to." Clark responded.

"Really." Chloe quipped. "I could tell by the hesitancy in your voice."

"What temperature dropping trick?" Jonathon asked.

As if on cue, it started to happen again.

Immediately the temperature in the room dropped, a lot.

Clark began to turn a pale color again.

"Clark, are you ok?" Martha asked. "I've never seen you so sickly looking."

"The pale color goes away when this stops." Clark told her.

"How did you get rid of it last time?" Chloe asked.

"I sneezed." Clark said. "You can still see the frozen tree outside."

This caused the Martha, Jonathon and Chloe to run outside, immediately seeing the snow covered tree in the driveway.

"How in the hell did I miss that when I pulled into the driveway?" Chloe said to herself.

Clark walked outside too, and Chloe began to shiver again.

"Alright frosty, until you learn what the hell this is and how to use it, I'm going into the house so I don't die of hypothermia." Chloe said.

"Chloe," Clark protested.

Martha walked inside again because she had to mind dinner in the oven.

"Alright, we're going to have to figure this out," Jonathon joked, "Because this could seriously cause the heating bill to go up."

"Seriously, Dad, I don't even know what this is. At least with everything else it was straightforward. Heat vision was heat vision, speed was speed, but this is what?"

"I don't know, son, I honestly don't know."

Suddenly Clark felt another sneeze coming on. He quickly zipped down the driveway again, but this time didn't get as far. He sneezed, and the cold gust hit Chloe's truck. It froze, not as much as the tree, but it had quite a bit of frost and snow. It looked like it had been out in a snowstorm.

"Dad, I think I'm ok for now, so we should just focus on the caves first and then tomorrow, we can tackle this."

"Clark, you can't put this in the background because of Pete and Chloe." Jonathon warned.

"I know, Dad. I'll be ok until tomorrow. If anything happens, I'll head home right away."

Jonathon, against his better judgement, nodded, and the two walked inside.

Later that evening...

Chloe, Clark, Pete, and Clark's parents were standing in the middle of the caves.

"Lana was pulling out of the Talon when I passed, and she started to follow me." Pete warned. "But I lost her on the way here."

Clark looked gravely at Chloe and Pete and received a sharp glance from his dad.

"We'll worry about that later. Right now we have something else to do." With that, Clark held up the octagonal key that fit into the hole in the cave wall. Immediately a light shot out and two holograms appeared. "Hello Jor-el, Lara." Clark said.

"Hello Kal-el," both Lara and Jor-el responded.

"This must be Jonathon and Martha." Lara said. "It's nice to finally meet you. Thank you so much for taking in Kal-el. You will always have a place in our hearts."

Martha looked at Lara, who looked upset, but grateful. "How are you even here?" Martha asked.

"As you know, Kryptonians are an advanced race. Jor-el knew that the Krypton was going to self-destruct, so we found a way to preserve our spirits in this cave. That way, when we perished, we would still be able to guide our son, if he indeed made it."

Then Jor-el spoke. "I glad that we meet under better circumstances," he said to Martha and Jonathon.

Clark again reminded them why they were here. "Jor-el, Lara, I need to ask you something."

Lara tilted her head as if to acknowledge Clark's request.

"Did you give Chloe and Pete abilities like mine?"

Jor-el looked directly at Clark, and sighed. He had known that this question was coming. "No, I didn't. Lara and I can't do such things, unless it is temporarily done to help you or protect you."

"Then what…" Clark asked.

"It was the chip I was telling you about. When you damaged it, the unit unleashed one last powerful surge of energy to try and sway you. Initially this was supposed to be used if you became out of control and power-hungry, but because of the malfunction, it saw fit to use it anyway."

"So what exactly was it trying to do?" Clark inquired, a little afraid.

"In this case, it had planned to control your friends and use them against you, to make you do what it wanted."

"So what happens now?" Chloe asked. "We could turn on Clark at any time."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Jonathon asked sharply. "Why should I even trust you?"

"Jonathon, you'll have to learn to trust me. I'm not the same Jor-el you've been witnessing for the past year or so. I tell you now that it was a malfunction, not one that we had time to prepare for, so you'll just have to take my word."

Jonathon clenched his fists. Martha put her hand on his shoulder.

"And now that the chip is damaged, Chloe and Pete should stay healthy." Lara said. "But since the chip gave you Kal-el's abilities, we can't take them away until we repair it first."

"What about the scar?" Chloe burst out.

Clark and Pete both glared at her.

"Oh, crap!" she remembered. "Clark's parents didn't know."

"Sadly, we can't get rid of those yet either." Lara told them. "But since the scar was used once before to control Kal-el and because we aren't sure if there is any power left in the damaged unit, you should be careful anyway."

Chloe and Pete nodded.

* * *

Lana stood just outside the place everyone was, listening in. As a quick recap she went over the information she had learned.

"Okay, so far I know that Clark has abilities, which Chloe and Pete now have. Clark's real name is Kal-el, and his parents are Lara and Jor-el, who come from Krypton, whatever that means." She thought.

Suddenly, something clicked in her head.

"Krypton is no country I've ever heard of, unless it's a small, war plagued country in Africa or something." Lana thought. "But it can't be, because we're studying Africa and Asia in Geography now."

She let that thought process for a minute.

"Wait a minute, what if Krypton is a planet?" she thought. "Oh my god. Clark's big secret is that he's an alien?" she asked herself.

Immediately she ran from the caves, dialing Lex's cell. When he answered, she said, "Lex, this is Lana. I just figured out something really important. Meet me at the caves, I'm…"

Just then, she bumped into someone and lost her cell. Looking up she realized it was Whitney. "Oh, no!" she muttered.

"Oh, yes." Whitney spat back. Then he grabbed her, stepped on her phone and sped away.

On the other end of the line, Lex said, "Hello? Lana? Anyone? Is anyone there?" and then static was heard.

* * *

Back in the caves…

"We don't really understand why Chloe is not susceptible to the red parts of our planet." Lara explained. "However, I would keep a look out for other abilities surfacing in both of your friends, Kal-el, because they can be very damaging should your friends not understand how to control them."

Suddenly the holograms began to fade and blink.

"Jor-el? What's going on?" Lara asked, frantically.

"I don't know! There must be some power left in the unit." Jor-el said, unsure.

"Get out of here!" Lara yelled to the group. "When that light explodes you'll be hurt."

Chloe and Pete had already begun to run, and Clark began to speed toward his parents to get them out. Lara and Jor-el faded completely and the symbols on the wall began to turn and change position. The walls opened and the offending light shot out again.

"It couldn't have been damaged greatly." Clark thought. "The AI in that chip is smarter than Lara and Jor-el give it credit."

Clark couldn't get his parents out in time, so he stood in front of them to protect them. However, the light grabbed Martha, and flung her on the ground, where her head hit a rock and she fainted.

Chloe and Pete, realizing that Clark hadn't followed them out, ran back inside to try and help. Everything was so bright that neither could see anything. Chloe walked into it anyway, desperate to save Clark.

"Chloe, are you nuts?" Pete cried out, but followed her in.

"Chloe? Pete?" Clark yelled. "Don't come back in! Run!"

Chloe tripped over a body on the floor and fell. Turning around she realized it was Martha. Chloe began to check Martha's pulse when the light knocked her into a wall, leaving a huge Chloe imprint. Her scar began to burn.

Now the beam was slamming Clark repeatedly into the wall.

Jonathon was awake, but weakened a great deal. "I knew that Jor-el and Lara set Clark up." He thought, helplessly watching Clark be tortured, and trying not to faint.

"Mr. Kent!" Pete exclaimed, when he ran into Jonathon and realized who it was. "Are you alright?"

"Pete? We have to help Clark and get Martha out of here." Jonathon said.

A worm like light suddenly came at Pete from behind and tossed him inside the wall.

Jonathon's eyes opened wide as he was faced with the one thing that had plagued Clark ever since he put the heart in the spaceship.

It shot through Jonathon, creating pain that Jonathon was sure felt somewhat familiar. It continued to do so, for how long, Jonathon didn't know, until he heard the noise of someone entering the cave.

"Lana?" Lex yelled. Then he noticed the white glow coming from the cave wall.

By this time Jonathon was passed out on the floor.

Lex noticed the light hovering over Jonathon's body and it began to come toward him. Lex followed his immediate instinct, which was to run, but he tripped over someone on the floor and fell.

The light snaked around him and began to engulf him. Lex continued to fight against it. However, before it had a chance to do anything, it stopped and receded into the wall.

Lex sat up and noticed that the Kents, Chloe and Pete, lay in the dirt, unconscious. "Clark?" he yelled.

"Lex? Run!" Clark yelled as much as he could.

Lex looked up to see Clark held on the wall, a snake of white beam shooting into him. The shock on Lex's face was apparent.

With some of the madness left over from his time on the island, Lex ran and jumped in front of Clark, and Clark collapsed on the floor, still awake.

However, Lex wasn't the intended target, and all of the snakes of light disappeared, this time leaving the cave wall open.

Clark was still a bit groggy, but managed to stand up.

"Thanks," he breathed.

"Clark, what the hell just happened?"

Clark just looked at Lex innocently. Lex knew that there was an excuse in the making.

"Clark, you do realize that you can tell me the truth, right?" Lex said.

Clark didn't respond, only to look around, wondering which unconscious person to run to first.

Most of Clark's buttons had broken off in the process, revealing a lot of the scar.

"Clark, what's that?" Lex asked, noticing it. "Did that light burn you?"

"No, it's nothing." Clark said, quickly trying to button up his shirt, but realizing that the buttons were gone.

He gave Lex a look that said, "Now is not the time."

Lex took the hint. "Clark, I'm going to call an ambulance."

Panic appeared in Clark's face. "No."

"Clark, they need medical attention."

Suddenly Pete woke up, and through his blurred sight he saw Lex. He stood up, and stumbled out. At the same time, everyone else began to wake up.

Lex, after making sure everyone was ok, and not in immediate need of medical help, turned his attention to the open wall.

"So how did you do it?" Lex asked.

"Do what?"

"Open the cave. I've had people down here for months trying to open it, with no success, and suddenly you walk in and it decides to open and try to kill you."

Lex began to walk inside, but before he could, the wall closed and the symbols turned back to their original positions.

"That's rather interesting." Lex noted.

Clark walked over to the wall. Just as Lex began to look around at the other symbols, the key formed and fell out of the wall. Clark caught it quickly, so Lex couldn't see.

But Clark was wrong, Lex had seen it, and he glanced over at Clark inquisitively. Clark noticed Lex's glance and tried to hide the key.

"Clark, where did you get that?" Lex asked.

"Get what?" Clark said innocently.

"Oh don't give me that crap Clark. I saw the key in your hand."

"I think you've pried quite enough." Jonathon said.

"Well, considering that the key was mine before the huge twister, I think I have a rightful claim to it."

"It doesn't belong to you." Pete said, with venom.

Lex glared at Pete. "As much as I'd like to stay and argue with you we'll have to fight it out later. I found this outside." Lex held up a cell phone. "It's Lana's. It has her name and address on it. Note how it's smashed. We were discussing business about the Talon when it dropped and went dead, so I tracked it to here."

"Any idea which way she went?" Clark asked.

"Actually, no. I was hoping to find a clue here." Lex told him.

Suddenly Clark heard Lana. "Whitney, put me down right now!" she demanded.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Lex asked, confused.

"Lex, I've got to get something before we look for Lana." Clark said. He then turned around to leave with a bruised Chloe, Pete and his parents.

Lex responded with a nod, but his thoughts were a whole different story.

"After we find Lana, Clark, I will find out what you're hiding." Lex thought.

* * *

In Metropolis, in the office of Lionel Luthor…

Lionel looked at his computer screen. It was filled with a live video feed. Little had Lex or Clark known, but he had recently equipped the caves with well concealed cameras. The video currently running on the screen had been quite enlightening to him.

"I knew there was something odd about that boy." Lionel said aloud.

Lionel brought up a draft of his research on the side. It had formulas for the chemical that Whitney had been immersed in, and plans for the project. He minimized and saved the cave video to a USB key, which he put into his safe, and made a mental note to check the earlier video feed as well.

Sitting down again and flicking through the research, Lionel thought about the project. The original idea had been to create a physically superior individual. However, no one in the project knew the real reason for Lionel's interest in it. It had nothing to do with making the ultimate race, as many assumed. Lionel had a rare disease, one that he would eventually die from: a death sentence, if you would. He had tried everything, but the best doctors in the world couldn't help him. They had simply told him to make himself comfortable in the following years. But the one detail that everyone forgot was that he was Lionel Luthor. He would find his cure, even if it was obtained through the most unconventional means, and if Clark was one of those means, then so be it. The only problem with the project was that in order for Lionel to be able to recover from his disease he would need an injection of the superior white blood cells, from someone with the same blood type. Clark's blood type couldn't really be defined and thus, Whitney came into play. Using Whitney to create a copy of Clark had been ideal. But the best part was that Whitney easily was considered MIA, leaving Lionel to do as he pleased with him. Yet, the scientists had run into another problem recently. The serum of refined meteor rock had reacted to Clark's blood almost violently, and therefore they couldn't be sure if Whitney's antibodies would react the same way. One of the scientists, Dr. Vera, had experimented with an alternate solution: a direct injection of the potent liquid into the body instead. However, before today Lionel hadn't known exactly what Clark was. That fact alone could be the key to the project, but the only way to use it was if he caught Clark, and did tests on him.

The other problem was that he had to get Whitney back. The plan was for Whitney to leave, to observe him, see what his mental state would be, and then bring him back to the lab. Lionel had to make sure of Whitney's behavior before engaged in the full treatment himself. Whitney had a tracking device on him which Lionel brought up on the map and used to locate his whereabouts. Normally Lionel would let his men fetch Whitney, but this time he was going to do it himself. He wanted to perform a small test first.

Lionel looked around cautiously. All of his staff were busy or finished their shift. He wouldn't be bothered. Closing the curtains to his office, he took a vial of green liquid out of his pocket. His impatience had gotten to him earlier that day. Vera said that she still had to run some tests, but what did he have to lose? He was dying anyway. Rolling up his sleeve he took the cap off the vial and injected it into himself. He could feel himself getting stronger. He walked over to the mirror. His irises now had a green tint, but weren't fully green. "Excellent," he thought. "It's working." He knew this because Vera had told him the confirmatory check to make sure the serum was functioning. He quickly replaced the vial in his pocket and opened the curtains. He was going to test the refined serum against Whitney's strength, and then he was going to bring him back, with backup if needed.

He closed the research on his computer and logged out, and then called the pilot of his helicopter. "Prepare to leave in half an hour," he said.


	12. Confrontations

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville and I'm not affiliated with it.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope you like this chapter

**Chapter 12**

Lex Luthor was standing in the caves with his cell phone. Turning it on, he dialed the sheriff's office. It rang a few times, and someone picked up.

"Sheriff Adams' office, what's seems to be the problem?"

"I'd like to report a kidnapping." Lex said. "The person is Lana Lang from Smallville. She was outside the Kawatche caves about twenty minutes ago when I was on the phone with her. Her cell phone went dead and I tracked it to the caves. That's where I am now."

"What did you say your name was?"

"Lex Luthor. I believed the person holding her is Whitney Fordman."

"Do you know where she is being held, or why this person would want to kidnap her?" asked the person.

"I have no idea where she is, but Whitney used to be her old boyfriend. He seemed to be in a fragile mental state when he attacked her at my house a few nights ago."

"So she was attacked." The woman said, clicking a keyboard in the background. "Any other helpful information you could give about the victim or the kidnapper?"

"No. That's all I know."

"Okay. We are in the process of dispatching a unit to investigate."

"Thank you." Lex said, and shut his phone.

With that, he decided to stay inside awhile and examine the extent of the damage.

* * *

Clark, Chloe, Pete, Martha, and Jonathon now stood at the place their vehicles were parked.

"What do we need to get?" asked Chloe. "Or was that a famous Clark excuse for having to leave?"

"No. I heard Lana yelling at Whitney. It was coming from that direction." Clark told her, as he pointed in a specific direction behind him. "And I need to get red kryptonite so I can face Whitney."

"It's at the Torch." Chloe said. "Want me to drive back and get it?"

"No, it'll take too much time for you to walk to your vehicle and then drive. I'm going to have to run there." Clark stated, and immediately started to speed away.

Chloe noticed him running.

"Clark! Get the hell back here!" She yelled, but noted that Clark didn't slow down.

Something clicked in her head and she began to chase after him. She just couldn't let him run into this situation on his own, especially since Clark's solo act would either mean a solid beating from Whitney, or the presence of Kal-el around Lana Lang. She couldn't let either happen. Her brain told her that it was impossible to catch up but regardless she felt her feet start to move, and she began to run as fast as she could. Clark kept getting farther in the distance, but she continued to run anyway. She darted around trees, over fallen logs, and across small streams, but never took her eye off of Clark. It was then she realized that she was actually keeping up.

"Oh god," she thought. "It looks like Clark was right."

Now that she realized that she could rival Clark's speed, everything began to come easier. She realized that she just had to go faster and began to use the strength that had been granted her to push against the soft ground, letting her cover more area with each leap and bound. The wind began to flow past her face so fast it made her wonder if she should've been getting a windburn. But it was working. She came closer, and closer, and closer to Clark until she was close enough to grab his arm, and then she slammed her foot down into the moss to stop them both. Unfortunately for Chloe, this resulted in them flipping over and consequently rolling through the dirt until they hit a rather solid tree.

Clark looked up at Chloe with complete and utter disbelief.

Chloe returned the look, with a quip, as per usual.

"Slow down there speedy, you're not doing this solo. Honestly I don't understand how you survived all of these years just rushing into fights. We need a plan." Chloe stated, pressing her index finger into the center of Clark's chest.

Clark shook his head, realizing that he would have to eat his earlier words. Then he began to chuckle.

"That was a rather creative way of stopping." He joked.

"Well how do you propose I do it?" Chloe shot back, slightly miffed.

"Not that way." Clark said, beginning to laugh again.

Chloe stood up and brushed the dirt off of her. She noticed that her shoe was still covered with muck.

"Just reduce speed until you're at a comfortable pace that you think you can stop at." Clark told her. "Geez, you had to stop running somehow when you were a kid, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't exactly have to worry about going sixty miles an hour speeds!" Chloe protested.

Clark stood up and began to brush himself off. He again shook his head.

"Well since you're here, you may as well come with me."

"That was the plan." Chloe stated. "But should we take some green kryptonite too? You know, in case the red starts to affect you."

"I think Whitney is made of enough of that." Clark told her.

"Clark, it's the only way to stop you when you're around red kryptonite." Chloe protested. "I don't think you should gamble with how much of it there's going to be."

Clark looked a bit hurt at Chloe's suggestion.

"Well, you're going to be there, right?" Clark said, with a small smile, "If you go, I won't have to worry about it."

Chloe's better judgment left her as soon as she saw Clark's smile. She couldn't help but give in.

"Alright, no green kryptonite." She agreed.

* * *

"So what do we do now?" Martha asked. "It's not like we can chase after Clark or Chloe."

Pete gave a shrug. "I don't know. But something I do know is that someone has to go after Whitney, and this time it can't be Clark. Well, alone anyway."

Jonathon nodded, acknowledging Pete's comment.

"We can go." Martha said.

"No. I don't think that Clark would want you to." Pete said. The last thing Clark would want to happen was an injury to his parents.

Martha sighed, knowing that yet again she would have to have faith that God would bring her son home safe to her.

"I don't know how long Clark's going to be." Pete said silently. "But somebody has to help Lana. By the time they get back, it could be too late."

Clark and Chloe suddenly appeared into view, with Chloe apparently heading directly for the group.

"Chloe, no!" Clark yelled, and began to run at her to head her off.

"Clark, I can't stop!" the Chloe blur yelled and continued on direct course with Martha and Jonathon.

With the attention diverted, Pete ran off into the woods, albeit without super-speed, in the direction that Clark had said Lana's voice had come from.

Meanwhile, Clark speeded at Chloe from the side, hoping to God that this wouldn't hurt her, and tackled her to the ground. They rolled together in super speed for a few seconds, and eventually began rolling like normal. When they stopped, Clark ended up on top of Chloe, who was holding a slightly open lead box in her right hand. She saw the red begin to climb up Clark's hand, and before she could do anything he knocked it out of Chloe's reach, and leaned in for a kiss.

"Crap," thought Chloe, and reached for the box. She leaned to her right more and more, at the same time fighting off Clark's sudden lack of inhibition and obvious attraction to her. Lucky for her, her newfound speed had come in handy and she grabbed the kryptonite, put it in the lead casing, and shut the casing just in time.

Immediately Clark's face panicked. He stood up, and quickly helped Chloe up, and over to his mom and dad. His face had turned a crimson shade of red. He quickly took the attention off him by asking Chloe a question: "So, what do we do next?"

"I don't know. You tell me, super boy." Chloe piped up to break the awkward silence.

"Hey, where's Pete?" Clark pointed out.

"Oh no! He must've left during the commotion." Martha realized.

Clark's face turned white. "Pete's not nearly prepared to take on Whitney." He said. His gaze dropped to the ground and he sighed. He remembered being that lovesick over Lana not too long ago. Unfortunately, that also meant he knew exactly what Pete had been thinking when he left, and it wasn't good.

Chloe put her hand on Clark's shoulder as if to hold him back, so he wouldn't take off like last time.

"Regardless, we still need a plan." Chloe stressed. "Who else is going with us?"

"Just us." Clark stated. "Mom, Dad, you should get home, out of the way of this. I don't want you to be hurt."

Jonathon and Martha knew they had to let Chloe and Clark handle this, as much as they wanted to help.

"Be careful," Martha said, hugging Clark, and running her hands though his hair. After kissing him on the forehead, she stood back and looked at Clark, who now blushed at her affection. Who had ever imagined that her son would help others with his gift? She was proud of him, and she would go home and bake, clean up the house, and do some chores, to wait for him to come home to her, so she could be even more proud of him.

"Alright, let's go." Clark stated. "Mom, Dad, we'll meet you back home."

Clark focused in on the sound of Lana's voice again. She sounded quieter, which scared Clark. He wondered if they had taken too long.

"She's in this direction," he said, motioning to Chloe.

Suddenly he stopped. "It sounds like there's someone breathing nearby, and it's not my parents."

Chloe turned around to look, and her eyes began to hurt. It was like everything was going out of focus, but yet a bluish-blackish color. Chloe saw the outline of a tree and a skeleton behind it. She let out a yell, and fell on her butt.

"Chloe, what's wrong?" Clark asked, although Chloe saw nothing but a skeleton in front of her.

She blinked and as soon as it came, it was gone. Clark's face reappeared in front of her.

"Chloe…what?" Clark repeated, now with his hands on her shoulders.

"Skeletons!" Chloe said. "You were a skeleton, there was a skeleton behind that tree…and…"

Clark turned and squinted, scanning the area. He could see no concealed skeleton around, so he assumed that whoever it was must've left.

"Chloe, it's ok. It's x-ray vision. I'll teach you how to use it when we get home, but right now we have to go find Lana and Pete, ok?"

Chloe meekly nodded, and stood up, again brushing off her butt. She took in a deep breath and then looked at Clark.

"Alright, I'm ready." She said.

Clark took her hand and both speeded away.

* * *

Lex heard voices outside. Following the sound he saw Clark, Chloe and Clark's parents standing around. He could only pick out small bits of their conversation because he was a little far from their group. Suddenly, Chloe began to look in his direction and heave a scream. Lex, not wanting to be discovered eavesdropping, even though he hadn't tried it, crept to another area and waited behind another tree, being careful not to make any noise. Then he saw Clark turn around and squint, as if he was scanning the area. That really freaked him out. However, Clark seemed not to notice him, so he remained where he was. Then, Lex saw something he never thought he'd ever see. Leaving the Kents behind, Chloe and Clark disappeared, as though they weren't even there at all.

"Did they just teleport?" Lex thought. "Or did they move faster than the eye can see?"

Lex remembered Chloe telling him about how Clark missed the bus yet made it to school before her. Lex's mind raced. "Enhanced speed would explain that, but so would teleportation." He mouthed. "And how could Chloe be able to do it? Certainly she couldn't do what Clark could…could she?"

Lex thought about it for a minute, weighing the options in his mind.

"Right now it looks like teleportation," he reasoned, "since Chloe can do it too. They were holding hands, so Clark must've used an aura to help her teleport with him."

To Lex this was great food for thought. It was too big to let slide. "I think it's time to reopen Clark's file," he thought.

* * *

Chloe and Clark stopped in front of a run down cabin. Clark supposed that Lana was now gagged because he couldn't hear anything. Then, looking at the cabin with his x-ray vision he noticed that it had an underground level that was a bomb shelter, with a pathway jutting out from it, leading to where, Clark didn't know.

"Dammit!" he said. "There's a bomb shelter underneath the place, but I can't see through it because it's made of lead."

"We can't just go in there blind!" Chloe said.

"We'll have to," Clark said.

In the underground pathway…

"Mmph! Mmph!" Lana mumbled. There wasn't much that she could say with a gag on her mouth. Here she was, being carried like a lump of potatoes over Whitney's back. All the way here, until he had gagged her, Lana had tried to find out why Whitney had changed so drastically. However, he refused to tell her. His sharp voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Shut up Lana. You don't want me to have to hurt you do you?" Whitney said.

Lana's eyes went wide. Knowing what Whitney could do, she didn't really want to piss him off. Looking down at the ground, Lana stopped trying to talk. She couldn't believe the situation she was in. The first person she had trusted with all her heart was kidnapping her and threatening her. "I sure know how to pick 'em." She thought. This was a double hit, since she had been kidnapped directly after finding out exactly what Clark had been hiding from her all these years. "Not from Earth…" She thought. "How did I not put two and two together?" Either way, she had lots of time to dwell on it. She doubted anyone even knew where she was, and no one would probably know until she was missing for a while.

"I'm not just going to give up." She thought, and with a sudden surge of courage she began to wriggle a lot. Whitney's irises turned an eerie green again, but Lana wouldn't let that discourage her. She continued to wriggle until Whitney dropped her to the floor. The fall hurt but giving up wasn't an option, so she shuffled on the floor, scanning the wall for a loose, jagged piece that could cut her bonds.

Clark heard the shuffling noise that Lana was making. "She's definitely down here," he whispered. Bracing himself to run ahead and stop Whitney, he was held back by Chloe.

"Clark…" Chloe said, in a warning tone. This had been the third time she'd held him back.

Suddenly the tunnel became very cold.

"Is it just me or is it freezing here?" Chloe whispered.

Clark put his hand up to his mouth. It almost froze solid. "Oh crap." He thought.

Chloe quickly realized the reason it was cold from Clark's sudden outburst.

"Didn't you deal with that earlier?" Chloe asked.

"Well, uh, I thought that I'd be ok for now…" he said sheepishly.

"You thought wrong Clark, although this may be useful if it lasts a while. Maybe we can freeze Whitney long enough to get the you-know-what near him." Chloe whispered.

"I just have one question. Why are we sneaking up on Whitney? We could probably take him easily." Clark asked.

"Need I remind you of the graveyard again, Clark? Or do you want a repeat of that?" Chloe whispered sarcastically.

"I guess not." He replied, defeated.

"Who's there?" someone ahead whispered.

Clark thought it sounded familiar, very familiar.

"Pete?" he asked.

"Clark?" Pete responded, walking back toward Clark and Chloe."Chloe?"

Clark looked relieved. That was one less person they had to look for.

"What were you thinking, running off like that? You could've been killed!" Clark whispered frantically.

"You're the one who ran off, man!" Pete whispered back.

"Wait a minute. Pete, how did you get here so fast?" Chloe inquired. "There's no way you had time to run here before us."

"I guess I just got so scared for Lana that I just didn't think and ran here. Come to think of it, I was going pretty fast." Pete whispered.

"Okay so that's three of us with speed." Chloe said. "So how did you stop?"

"Stop?" Pete questioned, remembering the rather large hole he had left in the cabin's wall. "I take it that you guys didn't see the hole."

Clark and Chloe looked at each other. "What hole?"

"The one in the wall." Pete stated.

"How did make a hole in the wall and yet not realize that you had super speed?" Chloe asked, raising an eyebrow.

Pete sighed. He didn't really know. All that had been on his mind was Lana. He noticed Clark glancing at him in empathetically.

"Love does strange things, Chloe." Clark said.

Suddenly, a voice was heard. "Lana, I told you to stop squirming! Now give it up before I'm forced to hurt you. Believe me, I don't want to, but I will if I have to."

Immediately the three reacted, speeding farther up the tunnel where Whitney was.

Chloe saw Whitney reach for Lana and immediately she gave him a mean right hook before collapsing due to the radiation pouring off him.

Whitney looked at Chloe, confused. "How can you do what Clark can?"

Chloe gathered strength and stood. "Because." She said.

Whitney flung Chloe into the wall. Dazed, but not hurt, Chloe began to stand.

Clark ran toward Chloe, though not close enough to Whitney to get hurt by the green kryptonite. After helping her up, he began to head for Whitney, and both teens erupted into a blur of punches and swings.

Chloe looked in Clark's direction. "Remember your secret weapon. Just take a deep breath and let it out on Whitney." she yelled.

"What the heck is she talking about?" Whitney thought, but he didn't really have time to react. He wasn't expecting Clark's next move. Although it hadn't worked like Chloe planned.

Clark sneezed, and the hallway turned into a storm of ice and snow. When it cooled, Whitney was completely immobile, and Clark couldn't even feel any adverse effects from the kryptonite.

"Great!" Chloe squealed. In all the excitement, she had been untying Lana.

Lana stood up and looked at Clark. Clark looked back.

"How did you do that, Clark?" Lana asked suspiciously.

"Err…magic trick?" Clark began.

"Side effect from the meteor rock we ran into outside?" Chloe tried.

"Fell into Crater Lake?" Pete offered.

Lana put her head up and sighed.

"Clark, I know how you did it." She said.

Clark looked at her funny.

"Then why did you ask?"

"Because I wanted to give you one last chance." Lana told him.

"One last chance to what?" he asked.

"To tell me the truth, Clark."

Chloe, Pete, and Clark all looked at each other.

"What truth?" they all said at the same time.

Lana now looked downright angry. Not only was Clark hiding something, but her two other best friends were hiding it too.

"That you're an alien perhaps, or has that slipped your mind already?"

"Who told you that?" Clark asked.

"I was outside the caves, Clark. I'm not stupid. You're Kal-el from Krypton and your parents are Jor-el and Lara, right? Wait, no, don't even answer that. I already know what you're going to say." Lana spat. "But before I leave, I just have one question. Why did you lie to me for so long? Did you truly believe that I was so selfish as to hate you for who you really were?"

Clark had no answer for that.

"Do you?" Clark finally said.

"Do I what?"

"…hate me for who - what - I am." Clark said softly.

Lana looked conflicted for a moment, and then regained her composure and started to walk away. "Thanks for saving my life." She said on the way out.

"Lana, wait!" Clark said.

She slowly stopped and turned toward Clark, letting her arms glide to the folded position they were in before. Although her anger was evident, Lana's eyes pleaded with Clark to let her go. Let her go before the hurt from all those years of his lies, from learning that she was the last to know, took over, and tears came forth.

"Lana, I…" Clark began.

"You what, Clark?" Lana said, small beads of water beginning to creep down her face.

"I'm sorry." He said, hanging his head.

"It's not good enough." She said.

Clark took a deep breath. Chloe prayed that Clark didn't say what she thought he was going to say.

"Lana, there's a couple of reasons I didn't tell you, but if you stay long enough, once we take care of Whitney I promise I'll explain them to you." Clark offered.

"Oh thank god." Chloe thought, as her fear of losing Clark to Lana again receded.

Lana looked at the ground, and eventually back into Clark's eyes. She wiped away her stray tears and again folded her arms uncomfortably. She didn't say anything, but didn't move either, so Clark assumed she had accepted his offer.

Whitney was frozen inside the ice block, with Lana and Clark standing in front of him talking. "Lana," he thought. "I wish you could see how much I love you."

Whitney began to drift back in his thoughts to his and Lana's alone time when they were going out. He thought about her warm smile, and her kisses. Eventually Whitney began to feel as though he had a headache coming on.

"Now what brought that on?" he wondered.

It became so intense that he had to hold his head. Suddenly his eyes began to burn and Whitney opened them to see the ice starting to melt around him. Whitney blinked, and his eyes went back to normal. He knew what this power was, and what an ideal time to get it. The ice was melted and he was ready to get back at Clark.

Chloe, hell bent on avoiding high tension moments, and not content to gaze at Lana, as Pete was, impatiently glanced around. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a lot of movement from the now ice depleted Whitney, and the gaping hole in the ice block. Realizing that he was thawed she reacted quickly and opened the lead box. Immediately, both Pete and Clark got a red tint to their eyes, and Whitney fell to his knees.

"No, don't kill him." Lana said, seeing how much pain Whitney was in, and feeling at least some compassion for him. After all, he had been her boyfriend.

"We might have to, so he doesn't hurt anyone ever again." Chloe told her.

"Oh I see how it is. Too bad I was blind all those years." Clark said. "You couldn't love me for me, but even though Whitney changed you still love him. Well that's just fine. I shouldn't have taken so long to realize that Chloe was the one I should've spent my time with."

Lana looked piercingly at Clark. "You're not the only one who was blind. Pete has been better to me than you've ever been."

Even in his current state, Clark's eyes betrayed the hurt that Lana's comment caused.

"Yeah, so what? You want me to feel sorry about that? I don't care. But you know what? You don't deserve Pete." Clark yelled.

"Help might be nice sometime soon!" Chloe yelled over the ruckus.

Whitney was starting to get used to the nauseating pain, and was beginning to stand up.

"I'm sick you ordering us around! Who the hell do you think you are anyway, Chloe?" Pete snapped. "It's always good old dependable Pete. Dump on him when something goes on with you and Clark, treat him like garbage though he's never been anything but behind you your whole life."

Chloe looked at Pete, shocked. She couldn't believe that he had even said what he did.

"If I had my way I wouldn't be in this dump of a town anyway. I'd have a future, as a racer. All that Smallville's been doing is holding me back." Pete continued.

Clark looked over. "Yeah, you're right. What's Smallville ever done for us?"

"What the heck is wrong with them?" Lana asked, helping Chloe restrain Whitney.

"This rock makes them express their emotions freely and act on their impulses." Chloe said, while tying Whitney's hands together.

"How come it doesn't affect you? I know that you were given the same abilities as Clark, whatever they are."

"Because that's the way it happened."

Although it seemed as though Whitney had given in, somehow he mustered up enough strength to move.

"Whoa!" Chloe yelled. "He's trying to escape."

But in their present state, Clark and Pete didn't seem to care. They were too bent on figuring out where to go when they left Smallville.

"Lana, can you tie up his legs?" Chloe asked.

Lana sighed and nodded.

* * *

**Meanwhile…in a helicopter above the cabin.**

"Mr. Luthor, the tracking device says he's right under us, but I can't spot anyone on the ground below." The pilot said.

"He must be underground," thought Lionel.

"I believe there's an underground portion to that cabin. Land here. I know where he is." Lionel ordered the pilot.

"Yes, sir."

With that the helicopter landed. Lionel noticed it wasn't too far away from the small cabin. He was in the underground tunnel in a matter of seconds.

So far Lionel noticed that the injection he had taken had given him great speed and strength but yet he had no idea if it was helping his disease. He only knew that he felt a great deal better.

He began to run down the tunnel. Not realizing that Whitney wasn't the only one there, Lionel ran into the midst of the teens and their now captured Whitney.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Pete yelled.

Lionel immediately realized his mistake. He didn't anticipate that Chloe, Pete, and Clark would've found Whitney so soon. He hadn't given them enough credit.

Clark walked threateningly toward Lionel. "You're behind this!" he yelled.

"What are you going to do about it?" Lionel asked.

"Going to break your damn neck!" Clark said.

Even though that's what every single person in the tunnel desired to happen to Lionel, they knew that Clark breaking Lionel Luthor's neck would not be good thing. They all knew that Clark could never forgive himself later if he took a life while in this state. Chloe gave the red kryptonite to Lana and tried to restrain Clark.

Lionel, knowing that he would be fighting a losing battle, immediately turned walk away. His own words echoed through his ears when Clark spoke.

"Pathetic." Clark said, breaking free of Chloe's grip.

Immediately Lionel's temper flared. "You young impudent fool!" he said. "Pathetic is what you've limited yourself to. You could've used all that power you possess for greater purposes, but yet you decide to stay and play the part of a farm boy."

"Power you'd like to have. I can see right through you, Lionel. I know that you want it. The sad part is that you can want it for the rest of your life, but it'll still belong to me."

This comment pissed off Lionel, but he refused to show it.

Clark dashed at Lionel, but immediately felt nauseated when he came within arm's length of him. Lionel saw this as his opening and picked Clark up by the neck.

"To educate you, Mr. Kent, if you are observant at all you'll notice that I can do what you can, and so can Mr. Fordman."

Lionel looked over at the group.

"If either of you moves I promise he'll be dead to you." Lionel threatened. Then he spoke into a small microphone he had in his hand. "This is Lionel Luthor. I'm at point 2012 demanding backup."

Clark looked into Lionel's eyes. He could see the same green that was in Whitney's. Already he was beginning to feel weak. "Chloe, he's not lying. He has found a way to duplicate my abilities." Clark gasped.

Clark kicked and punched, each one tiring him out more, because of the kryptonite, but Lionel held him far enough away that it wasn't causing any hurt.

Suddenly Lionel threw Clark to the ground, Clark's body scraping along the jagged pieces of cement. Clark looked at the concrete he was lying on. It was saturated with his blood.

"My blood…" Clark thought, before realizing that he was bleeding profusely

Lionel began to grab Whitney and leave.

By this time Pete wasn't about to back down, and he began to run toward Lionel with a vengeance.

Lionel laughed in Pete's face, ducked Pete's punches and then used Pete's momentum to hurtle him into the wall. Although, it was too fast for the human eye, so all Lana could pick up was a blur.

Wanting to make sure he was rid of a potential threat, Lionel walked over to kick Pete around more. He noted that the teens must not have had this power for very long to be as inexperienced as they were. Although he hadn't had the power for very long, he was definitely more experienced in matters of combat.

Pete began to feel the same effects as Clark, and not being used to the pain, he immediately collapsed.

"Oh god. This is worse than we thought." Chloe said. Then she stood up and grabbed the red kryptonite. "Let's see how you like this!" she said, and thrust it into Lionel's face. After a series of what seemed like blurred punches, Chloe began to also feel weak because of the meteor effects, and her speed began to decrease. Lionel used this to his advantage and stopped her hand before it hit him, taking the rock and examining it.

"What's this?" he asked. "Interesting, a red meteor rock." Taking note of how that rock had affected Clark and Whitney, Lionel pocketed it. It might prove useful to his research.

"No! Give that back!" Chloe exclaimed. But it was too late. Whitney was already beginning to stir.

He looked up. "Lana," he said, "You won't get away this time!"

Lionel looked at Whitney. "That's enough." He said. "Whitney, you'll come with me."

"I'll do no such thing."

"You'll come willingly or you'll become quite uncomfortable again. I hear that you and the red meteor rock don't get along very well." Lionel threatened. "As for you, Mr. Kent, I believe you're familiar with a certain green rock, and I don't think I'm reaching when I say that you don't enjoy its presence. Therefore, I think it would be in your best decision to come along."

In a matter of seconds, Lionel's backup team came marching into the tunnel.

Chloe stood up to stop Lionel from taking Clark, but she was still too weak from the kryptonite. Pete couldn't do much either, as he was out cold on the floor. And Lana, well, if Chloe and Pete couldn't do anything, the hope of Lana helping was pretty slim.

* * *

"Something's wrong, I know it" Martha said, when she stepped outside of the house.

She had been waiting for Clark for over an hour. Surely it didn't take that long to apprehend Whitney. "Or was it an hour?" she thought. "Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me. But I was sure that it was about and hour ago that Jonathon and I, and Lex left the caves."

Jonathon looked at her. "Are you ok?"

"No. I'm not."

* * *

Lionel's men picked up Whitney, carefully holding the red rock near to him. Lionel realized that he would have to keep Clark weak so he decided to take Clark himself, grabbing Clark's collar and dragging him across the cement floor.

Clark yelled out in excruciating pain. He wasn't used to this. He watched as a trail of blood followed him down the tunnel – his blood.

Chloe looked on in disbelief. She stood up and ran at the group of men while Lana desperately tried to wake Pete.

She didn't get very far when she suddenly felt nauseated and began to fall to her knees. Looking up she noticed a rather generous chunk of kryptonite.

"You must've seriously underestimated me if you thought I'd come unprepared, Ms. Sullivan," Lionel said, stopping to look at her.

Chloe couldn't respond, except to claw at the guard in front of her, to which he kicked her into the wall.

She felt blood run down from her mouth. She could taste it, the salty ugly taste of blood on her tongue. The taste that was familiar to everyone on the planet but Clark. She looked down at the cracked nails on top of her now bleeding stubs of fingers.

"I wonder if my blood is even human anymore." Chloe thought, before drifting off into the darkness.

* * *

Clark's yell erupted into Martha's head, and immediately she looked to the left. Then Martha looked at Jonathon to see his reaction. He was looking to the left as well. This surprised her. She hadn't expected him to hear it.

"Is it just a figment of my imagination?" Martha asked.

"No." Jonathon said reluctantly. An understanding had started to form in his head about what was going on.

Another cry shot through Martha's head, this time she heard Clark pleading with Lionel not to bring him to a lab.

"Oh my god." Martha said, and before Jonathon could react, she shot off through the darkness, with nothing to guide her but motherly instinct.

Jonathon looked at the blur of his wife. "Damn those caves," he said, before he ran after her.

* * *

Lionel was almost outside when Martha ran into him.

"Leave my baby alone, you hear me?" Martha demanded.

"Martha?" Lionel said.

"You're damn right it's Martha. Now unhand my son, or I'll make sure you never forget who I am."

"Threats, Martha, could get a law suit on your head. Then you'd have to pay for a defense lawyer, and…oh my…the farm's bills wouldn't get paid, would they? Yes, that could result in very unfortunate circumstances on your part. So why don't you just let me through and we'll forget this whole thing ever happened."

This flamed Martha even more.

"You bastard!" she cried. She was damned if Clark was being taken from her, not by Lionel Luthor, not by anyone. He was still her baby and she would protect him from harm no matter what it took.

She noticed the blood trail on the floor, and Lionel's tight grip on Clark's wrist. It was then she decided that she'd had enough.

Martha ran at Lionel, swinging at him, kicking and lashing out. Lionel called out to his backup team to try and stop her but she just flung them away like they weighed nothing. For once, Lionel wondered if he had gone too far.

Jonathon arrived just as Martha had Lionel in a choke hold and was about to seriously injure him.

"Martha, don't!" Jonathon exclaimed.

"Why not, Jonathon? Why the hell not? The world would be better off if he were gone, and so would Clark." Martha said, with tears in her eyes.

"Because, as much as everyone hates him, or as much as he deserves to die, it's not your right. Leave that to those higher up than us. You can't kill a man for his sins, Martha. It's not your job, and it's not mine." Jonathon said.

Martha's chokehold tightened. Lionel was fighting back, but his power seemed to be diminishing. The injection, by this time, was wearing off. Jonathon walked over and put his hand on Martha's arm pushing it down, one hand on hers in an attempt to unravel her hand from Lionel's neck.

Eventually, her anger subsided, and Martha reluctantly let go. Lionel fell to the ground and immediately began to hold onto his neck.

"I…Jonathon…I'm sorry, I just don't know what came over me." Martha apologized.

Lionel, wanting to cut his losses, took what was left of his backup team and left with Whitney.

Martha went to stop him, but Jonathon held her back. "Let him go. He'll get what's coming to him."

Turning, Martha ran over to Clark, who was now rapidly healing, but still a little tired and weak from the large loss of blood.

"Oh, Clark, are you ok?" she asked, holding him tightly against her.

"Mom, how…did…you and Dad get here?" Clark asked.

Martha looked at Jonathon. Just how had she gotten there? She remembered having the impulse to save her son, and everything else was a blur.

"I…I don't know. It all happened so fast."

"Somehow, your mother and I have your abilities." Jonathon stated.

Clark looked up, dumbfounded. "The caves." He mouthed.

He managed to stand and walk over to his Dad, looking to see if a visible scar was present. Clark couldn't find one, until he noticed his dad's near open shirt, and the burnt skin underneath.

"Dad…?" Clark questioned. "What…why? Your scar…it's like mine."

Jonathon looked down. "I know. Clark, whatever is in that cave, it and I aren't on good terms." Jonathon said. "I know that now more than ever. I knew it since that light pierced through me. I could feel its hatred for me: its hatred for its only rival."

"Rival for what?"

"To be your father, Clark." Jonathon stated.

Clark didn't want to think about that. He had presumed the problem with the caves would be over now but it seemed as though that wasn't true.

Clark put it into the back of his mind for now and then realized that Chloe and the others were behind in the caves. Turning around he headed back, with his parents behind him. On the way, Clark saw Chloe lying unconscious against the wall.

"We'll take care of her, Clark. Go ahead and find Pete and Lana." Martha said, beginning to check Chloe for injuries.

When Clark arrived, Pete has just awoke. "Whoa. That was a rush." Pete joked, to lighten the mood. "Clark, man, what you have here is your own personal drug."

Clark glared at Pete.

"Hey, I was just kidding."

Then Pete and Clark again made note that Lana was there.

Lana looked at Pete. "Personal drug? What the heck are you talking about?"

"The red chunk of meteor rock." Clark said. He didn't care what she knew anymore.

Lana pictured back when Clark and Chloe were making out in the Talon. She remembered the red rock she had found on the floor in the booth where he had been.

"Oh god. You…and Chloe…the Talon…" She said aloud, and her face filled with hurt.

Clark wondered if he should feel guilty for reminding Lana about that particular incident.

In the meantime, Lana decided not to say anything about Lex and her partnership. Although she knew that Clark didn't act angry unless he was around that red rock she was kind of afraid of what he would do.

"I'm beginning to wonder if we should even call it a secret anymore, Pete." Clark sighed.

Pete sighed back. "The wrong person already found out."

Lana looked ahead blankly as Martha and Jonathon entered, carrying Chloe.

The truth of the matter was, Lana felt out of place standing around these now super-powered people that she thought she'd known so well. "Can we…get out of here?" she asked.

"Yeah. No problem." Clark said. "Which one of us do you want to carry you?"

"Why do I need to be carried?"

"You'll see." Clark said.

Then Pete volunteered. Lana nodded him an okay and he picked her up.

Then everyone headed back to the Kent farm, Clark leading the way, Martha following close behind, Pete carrying Lana, and Jonathon carrying Chloe.


	13. Frustrations

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville, and I'm not affiliated with it.

Thanks to my reviewers!

**To Tom-Welling1390: **Sorry if there were continuity errors. I try to keep the story constant with details and I try to follow the episodes of Smallville. I know I didn't give a specific reference point of where this starts but I did change a few things. If possible, could you tell me what the errors are? That way I can change them.  Oh, and thanks for the compliment about the story!

**Chapter 13**

In the Kent's living room, Lana looked at everyone oddly, especially Clark. Chloe had just recently awoken and was now holding an ice pack to her head, even though it the pain decided to stop moments ago.

Lana looked around. "Okay, first of all, how come your parents can do what you can, Clark?"

"It's because of the caves." Clark said. "But I'll tell you about that later. Now, I promised you I'd explain why I didn't tell you before, and I'm going to."

Lana took a deep breath and awaited Clark's explanation.

"Part of the reason was to keep you safe from the danger that surrounds me. I didn't want you to get hurt trying to protect my secret or protect me. I didn't want to give you that burden."

Lana acknowledged this. "But you didn't waste any time telling Chloe or Pete." She told Clark. "It obviously wasn't enough of a danger or too much of a burden to share with them."

Clark sighed. "Lana, there's another reason."

"Which is…?" Lana trailed off.

"Lana, not only am I from another planet, but I came with the meteor shower. The one that…"

"…killed my parents." Lana mouthed in shock. It all made sense now: Clark's birthday being on the anniversary of the meteor shower, Clark always looking so upset around the wall of weird, and Clark's weird sense of responsibility to stop the meteor freaks.

Lana took another deep breath and sat back, still trying to deal with Clark's new revelation. She tried to push it out of her mind by directing a question at Pete.

"Pete, you knew about Clark, didn't you?" Lana asked.

Pete looked at his feet.

"I'm sorry that it had to be this way, Lana." he consoled.

This time Lana lost it.

"Sorry for what? You shouldn't be sorry for anything Pete. It's Clark who should be sorry. He lied to me, about everything. Clark. Should I even call you Clark?" Lana said, but then shook her head. "That's beside the point. How could you keep this from me? Don't you think I had a right to know?"

Clark could no longer handle Lana's accusing eyes and her piercing statements.

"Was I justified if I knew you would react this way?" Clark shot.

"React what way, Clark? You're an alien! How am I supposed to react? What do you expect me to do: just continue living life and ignore the fact that you lied to me since you've known me?"

"Do you have to keep bringing that up?" Clark asked.

"Bringing what up? The fact that you're an alien, or the fact that you're a liar?" Lana said. "I can't believe I had a relationship with you!"

"Given your reaction, I don't think I'm sorry for not telling you." Clark said.

"Well, considering our friendship is on the line, I think you should be." Lana said, venom dripping from her words.

Clark wondered if this was the real Lana, the one he hadn't seen. Had his secret pushed her to the breaking point? Clark had never seen her as angry as this before. Sure, she had gotten miffed at him a few times, but never this bad.

However, Clark Kent wasn't as mild mannered as everyone thought when he was angry.

"What should I be sorry for Lana?" Clark asked sarcastically, "Existing? And if you can't understand why I didn't tell you before then maybe there's no point in us even having this discussion."

Chloe glared at Lana. "Just for the record, Lana, Clark did just explain himself to you, which is more than I would've done. He obviously cares enough about your friendship to work that hard for it. Do you realize how much your statements hurt him? But besides all that, for you to view him differently now just shows how shallow you really are."

Lana glared back. "From what I can remember, you weren't exactly the president of Clark's fan club, Chloe, until he told you his secret."

Pete looked nervously from Lana to Clark and Chloe. He didn't know whose side to take. After all, Lana was his girlfriend now.

"I think we all need to calm down and think this through." Pete said, choosing his words carefully.

"Why would I listen to you, Pete? You're just as bad. You lied to me too." Lana stated.

"Lana, I had to. It wasn't my own ass I was protecting, it was Clark's."

A thought managed to surface its way into Lana's head: a thought that maybe she was reacting this way because…because of Clark's connection to the one traumatic event her life revolved around. But that thought was quickly put out of her head.

"I…I have to go…think." Lana stuttered.

Clark glanced at her, the hurt evident in his eyes.

Lana looked up at him. Clark looked into those eyes he once loved, but now his heart had become null and cold in all matters of Lana.

"Well then go." Clark said quietly.

Martha and Jonathon came back in, with Gabe. They had been explaining everything to him when they heard the ruckus.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Martha asked, noticing the look on Clark's face.

"Nothing, mom. Lana was just leaving." Clark said.

* * *

_Back in Lionel's Office._

Lionel was sitting at his desk, looking at Whitney. For the first time since becoming the way he was, Whitney was afraid.

"Mr. Fordman, I suspected that you would visit Miss Lang but what I didn't realize is that you would go as far as kidnapping. When I let you loose, it was to observe your physical health and mental stability. Now I can see that there will have to be more tests done to ensure your mental health. But I must admit that you are a most interesting specimen. I never thought that you would exhibit the same abilities as Clark, especially not to the extent where you had a weakness almost alike to his. I need to study you more." Lionel said.

"Why would you want to study me? You have powers of your own now." Whitney pointed out.

"You were the only specimen that was successful, and the serum is only temporary it seems," he said.

Whitney began desperately struggling with his hate for Clark and his only sense of his real self that he had left.

"I'll be damned if you're going to shove me in a lab again." Whitney spat, and the old Whitney began to surface.

Lionel took out the piece of red kryptonite. "I assume you've seen this before. It's red meteor rock."

Whitney began to wince. "Why the heck does that hurt me?"

"Clark Kent is weak to the green rock, and you to the red, a side effect from your treatment that I was initially unaware of." Lionel stated. "Mr. Fordman, you are my specimen to study now whether you like it or not, or else, this rock will kill you."

Whitney reluctantly gave in, but was determined that he would escape Lionel's grip somehow, even if he had to ask for Clark's help.


	14. Antitrust

**Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville nor am I affiliated with it.**

**Chapter 14**

The next morning, when Clark came downstairs, he noticed that no one was around, except his mother who was laying Clark's breakfast on the table.

"Hello, sleepy-head," she said, laughing.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Almost twelve noon."

"Holy…"

"Watch your mouth, and eat." Martha turned around for a second. "Glass," She said.

Shaking his head, Clark just laid the milk carton down and opened the cupboard for a glass.

"Where is everyone?" he asked.

Martha turned around with a glint in her eye. "Outside." She said.

"What are they doing out there?" He asked.

"You'd never guess. Now hurry up and let's go out with them."

Clark quickly gulped down his food and then both he and his mother walked outside. What he saw shocked him. Pete, Chloe, and his dad were playing basketball on teams, and Pete, Chloe and his dad were using his-err-their abilities out in the open! Gabe's absence was no surprise, but Lana's absence he dually noted, and sighed.

"What are you doing?" he asked the group.

"Waiting for you to get up, snoozer." Pete said. Chloe laughed.

"You always tell me never to use my abilities in the open, Dad!" Clark said. "And what about the farm chores?"

"All done." Jonathon said, a smile evident on his face, "Although I feel kind of guilty about it not taking me as long. It makes me feel as though I haven't done enough. And about hiding our new abilities, we checked. No one's around for miles, and I guess it can't hurt to let loose every once in a while."

Clark couldn't believe his dad was saying that. "Hello?" he said. "I was speaking to Dad a minute ago. Can you tell me what happened to him?"

"It's just a bit of fun, Clark. Don't worry about it." Martha said.

With that, Clark calmed down a little and joined in.

After that, he, Pete, and Chloe headed to the Talon.

"Are you sure it's such a good idea to come here?" Clark asked.

"Clark, I don't know about you, but I'm not avoiding the Talon because Lana's decided that she's in a mood for the rest of the week." Chloe said

Walking inside they noticed Lex. At first he looked to be in shock but after he waved for them to come over. They all sat down, and had barely ordered their drinks when Lex spoke.

"Did I see Lana working today?" Lex asked.

"I assume so." Clark answered. "I believe her shift started a couple hours ago."

"I phoned her in as a missing person after the incident near the caves. Now that she's here…"

"You called her in as missing?" Chloe exclaimed. "Well, it's ok. She's back now. I wouldn't worry about it. We can notify the sheriff's office."

"I'm just glad she's safe." Lex said.

Pete glared at him. He was still jealous of the night Lana had spent at Lex's mansion.

"Clark, I have to ask you something." Lex told him. "Where did you get that key?"

"Key?" Clark muttered, as his face went pale.

"The octagonal one that fits in the caves." Lex added. "Care to tell me how you got it?"

"We found it there when we arrived." Chloe covered. "It just happened that Clark decided to fit it in the cave's octagonal recess and that's when the lights started to try and kill us."

"Nice try, Chloe, although your excuse is a step up from Clark's, but I know that it wouldn't have been inside the caves. I've had people searching there since it went missing."

"What do you care? It's not like it's yours anyway!" Pete said, agitated at Lex.

"Oh. And whose is it then? Please enlighten me." Lex said.

Pete immediately regretted his words. He had made the same mistake around Dr. Hamilton.

At that moment the temperature in the room dropped.

Shifting the subject, Pete said. "Gee, it's really cold in here. I wonder if the Talon just got air conditioning?"

"Not that I know of." Lex said.

Clark immediately looked down at his mug. There was a casing of ice around the top and the coffee was solid underneath. He quickly hid it in his jacket and hoped that no one would notice.

Chloe looked over and saw Clark's dilemma. She looked at the table and it too was starting to become stiff from the cold. Chloe stood up quickly. "Uh, we should go…" she said to Lex. Then she shoved Clark outside and she and Pete went to pay for their drinks, including Clark's. Lex looked at Clark, then Chloe suspiciously.

As they were walking, trying to get to a place to speed away, Chloe noted that Lex was getting in his car to follow them. She motioned for everyone to walk normal and a couple of minutes later Lex finally came up to them and asked if they wanted a ride.

"No, Lex, that's alright. We don't mind walking." Clark said.

Lex squinted his eyes. "You're sure? It's a long way."

"We're fine." Pete said hurriedly.

"All right." With that, Lex rolled his window up and went ahead. Then Clark, Pete and Chloe speeded out of sight.

"Okay," Lex thought, "I don't know exactly what they're trying to hide but I will find out." With that, he turned onto the highway heading to Clark's house to wait for them to come home.

Halfway down, he noticed three blurs pass him on his side of the road. He could have been mistaken but they looked an awful lot like Chloe, Clark, and Pete. Then he remembered seeing Clark and Chloe do the same thing the night Lana was kidnapped.

**Meanwhile…**

"I thought you said there was no one on this road!" Clark yelled.

"There wasn't," yelled Chloe. "I thought Lex was headed home."

Pete just shook his head. "I hope that Lex doesn't think too hard on this," he said.

Chloe and Clark screeched to a halt, well Clark did anyway, Chloe continued barreling down the road until her speed decreased. "He doesn't know it's us." Clark said.

Pete stopped too. "He will if he sees us standing around like this!" Pete exclaimed.

Running ahead again, the three ran up Clark's driveway and into the loft before Lex could see them, or so they thought.

**In Lex's Car…**

Lex almost crashed his car (again) when he saw three figures on the road ahead where the blurs once were. It was Chloe, Pete, and Clark. He was right! There was some sort of teleportation or speed on the go. He suspected that the extra cold in the Talon today had something to do with Clark as well. He followed them to the farm.

**At the farm…**

After checking to make sure Lex wasn't around, Chloe dragged Clark outside. "That is not going to happen again!" she said. "So you're learning this new power!"

Clark gulped. "But I don't even know what it is!" he protested.

Pete looked at Clark. "You're going to have to learn it soon, man, because you're going to be an inconvenience come the winter."

"Okay so how does it happen?" Chloe asked Clark.

"I just notice my mouth getting really cold, and snow and ice starts forming around me. Then everyone glares at me." Clark said, glaring at Chloe.

"I'm getting your dad." Chloe said.

Clark didn't argue.

Jonathon came out, frowning. "Clark, I told you not to let this get out of hand. You should've come to me." he said.

"I didn't think it would be a problem." He said. "I figured it was something like floating."

Jonathon just shook his head. "And Lex was there when it happened? Clark how many times…"

"I know Dad. I know." Clark said, looking at Chloe. "Did I ever tell you that you have a big mouth?"

Pete laughed.

Clark looked up seriously. "So how am I going to control something like this? Especially when I don't even know what it is."

"Think about something hot?" Chloe suggested. The minute she said it she realized that it was a mistake.

"Then he'd be setting the house aflame." Pete chuckled.

Clark sighed.

"Well, it's still happening, so maybe if you hold your breath?" Chloe said.

Clark tried. When Chloe touched his arm it was ice cold.

"Okay, maybe that's not such a good idea."

Clark let out the breath he was holding. This had to be the weirdest ability so far.

Then Jonathon had an idea. He told Clark to try and take shallow breaths until it stopped. It worked. Then he had Clark inhale a deep breath and let it out, in the process trying to freeze the scarecrow instead of burn it.

Clark tried and tried, until eventually it worked.

Everyone looked at the scarecrow. It was encased in ice, and beginning to melt. Now Clark's skin tone was back to normal, and his breath was warm again. He looked at his dad in amazement.

"You see, Clark? I knew your dad could help!" Chloe blurted.

"Yeah, I guess so." Clark said with a grin. It was still weird that all he had to do was breathe and he could freeze stuff but he was happy enough that he could control it.

Lex was sitting in his carefully concealed car watching all this. His eyes nearly jumped out of his head when he saw the scarecrow encase itself in ice, and Clark standing next to it. So Clark could teleport, and he could freeze things by breathing. And he had the key to the caves. He let that thought digest and started up his car, leaving the farm.

Clark heard a car start and looked in the direction the sound came from. Then he saw a car speed off – Lex's car. "Did Lex just see all of that?" Clark thought.

"Guys, I'm heading to Lex's. I have to find out what he knows." Clark said.

"I'm going to look for more of the red meteor rock in case Whitney comes back." Chloe said.

This time Pete corrected her. "It's Kryptonite," he said.

"Oh, right. That with a C or a K?" Chloe laughed.

Pete looked at her and shook his head, knowing full well that he had said the same thing. "K." he said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm heading to the Torch. Maybe I can find out more about what's going on with Lionel and Whitney."

Clark waved, and sped off to Lex's mansion.

**At Lex's mansion…**

Lex arrived at his office and sat down to wait for Lana. Before he left the Talon he had asked her to come by when she took her break, which was five minutes ago.

As if on cue, Lana walked into Lex's office and sat down on the cushioned chair next to his desk.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked, sitting back and folding her arms.

"Yes, I did." Lex said.

He remembered her first words on the cell phone: "Lex, this is Lana. I just figured out something really important." He suspected it had to do with Clark, and right now there was nothing more he was itching to find out than what she was going to say.

"Lana, what were you trying to tell me when you called me that night at the Kawatche caves?" Lex asked bluntly.

She looked up. "Hrm?"

He raised his eyebrow. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Oh that. It was nothing. I thought I found something out but I didn't."

"Lana, I can tell when someone is lying or hiding something, and I know that you're doing both."

"How would you know if I was or wasn't?"

"Because I'm an expert at it. Lana, I helped you. You wanted to know Clark's secret and I gave you resources to work with. I know that you know something, and I think that you owe it to me to tell me."

"I thought that you didn't want to investigate Clark any more."

"Yes, well let's just say I saw something the night of your kidnapping that opened my eyes and told me to start looking for answers again."

"Well if you know so much, why are you asking me?"

Lex was getting agitated at Lana's evasiveness of the topic. "I know that you know something Lana. I thought that you didn't care about Clark any more. Why are you holding back?"

"Excuse me Lex, but I have to get back to the Talon." Lana said, and stood up to leave.

Lex wasn't giving up that easily. He let Lana go, figuring he'd try again soon. He was surprised when Clark walked into his office moments after Lana left. Little did he know that Clark had arrived only minutes after Lana walked in.

"Clark, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Lex, I need to talk to you." Clark said.

Lex nodded for Clark to continue.

"I know that you were spying on me. I thought you said that you gave up investigating me." Clark said, getting straight to the point.

"Hello to you too." Lex replied. "I wasn't. I just came by for a visit and I saw that you were busy so I left." He shrugged.

"What exactly did you see, Lex?" Clark asked.

"Why so concerned, Clark? According to you, you have nothing to hide."

"Don't avoid the question, Lex."

"I saw you, your dad, Chloe, and Pete doing something with a frozen scarecrow." He shrugged.

Clark let out a breath. It was cold. He quickly stopped it before it started.

"I'm surprised to say the least, Clark. This is the first time you ever even came close to admitting that you're hiding something."

"I'm not."

Lex laughed.

Clark noticed something in the corner of his eye. It was a red rock, and it was sitting on Lex's desk. He quickly backed away.

"Why so jumpy, Clark?" Lex asked.

"What's that, Lex?" Clark asked, pointing to the rock on his desk.

"That's a piece of red meteor rock I keep close since the incident with Whitney. It's a beauty isn't it?"

"How did you know that it hurt him?"

"I was immobile but I could still see what was going on. Thankfully, you and Chloe discovered a weakness. Next time I'll be fully prepared. What's the matter?"

Clark was hunched next to the doorway. "Uh, nothing." He said. "I should be going now."

"You didn't want a piece for protection did you? I know that you're on top of Whitney's list, and it is a pretty large rock." Lex held it out.

Clark felt the rock tugging at him, trying to take him over. He looked at his hands. His veins were turning red. "Lex, I have to go." Clark said, before the rock entirely took him over, and he left.

Lex just looked at the rock in bewilderment. Something had just happened here. Had he just seen what he thought he had? He had seen Clark's veins bulge and turn the same color as the rock. He added this detail to the list of things he already knew about Clark. Then a thought hit him. There were new cameras just installed in the caves after the last ones mysteriously burnt out. These were concealed more. Maybe there was some sort of video tape footage. He made a mental note to check.

Clark ran to the Torch and immediately asked Pete if he found anything else. Pete hadn't found anything.

"I think that Chloe is better at research." He said.

"Speaking of Chloe, is she…"

Just as he said that, Chloe walked through the door with a massive piece of red kryptonite.

"Chloe!" Clark yelped, as he leaped back from the rock.

Pete looked up too late. His eyes glowed red.

"Chloe go get a lead box or something!" Clark yelled.

She quickly left with the rock and Pete's eyes went back to normal. Clark looked through the Torch closet and found the lead box they had used earlier. He tossed it to Chloe.

"Uh, Clark, there's a problem," Chloe said. "It won't fit."

Clark was faced with the worst imitation of his lopsided grin ever. "What was that?" he asked.

"That was me trying the Kent grin, but apparently it didn't work so well." Chloe laughed.

Clark just shook his head. "Are you sure you don't have a bigger box?" he said.

"Maybe your parents do. I'll bring it to them." With that, Clark and Pete had to hold on to the papers on the desk as Chloe sped out of the room.

"Pete, you don't know how to hack into a computer, do you?"

"Kind of. Why?"

"Maybe there are a few interesting articles on Luthorcorp's computers."

"I don't know, man. They have a pretty tight computer security system." Pete said. Then he typed in 'Luthorcorp +Indonesia' and a page with twenty results opened.

Pete looked down through them. "Luthorcorp funds poverty project…, Luthorcorp opens fertilizer factory…" Pete read. "Oh here's an interesting one." He mentioned. "Missing soldier found! Young soldier Whitney Fordman considered MIA was found today by Lionel Luthor of Luthorcorp. Whitney had suffered a traumatic blow to the head, causing him temporary amnesia. He also suffered from a few minor injuries. Doctors are baffled by his survival. They say Whitney is an extremely lucky man to have survived the blast. Mr. Luthor has volunteered to take care of the young man until he is healthy enough to return to his hometown of Smallville, Kansas."

"How come we didn't see that before?" Clark asked.

"I don't know, probably because it's in the back files of some small Indonesian newspaper. It's linked to another article – the newspaper article that was released in the Smallville Ledger about Whitney's disappearance."

"I bet Lionel paid the Ledger not to publish that article." Clark said. "I'm going to email the Smallville Ledger, and ask them why they didn't publish the second article."

"What about the Daily Planet?"

"They wouldn't have done an article on Whitney. A lot of guys could've signed up and been MIA. Metropolis is a big city."

"You're probably right." Pete agreed.

Clark sat down to type up the email.

Just then Chloe walked in. "Got a bigger one!" she exclaimed, as she showed off the new lead box she had.

"That's great. Now can you put it in the closet or something?" Clark said. He wasn't too fond of having the red kryptonite around.

"Fine." Chloe said as she pouted and walked over to the closet.

Clark looked back at Pete. "Luthorcorp is not usually so sloppy. If that article was there in the first place we would have found it. Why does he want us to see it now?"

"Maybe he just doesn't care. I mean, after what happened in the tunnel we already know that he was behind it, whatever it was."

"True. But he could want us to find him. He could be trying to lure us into a trap."

"Clark, man, you've been watching too many mystery movies."

"No, I just don't want to become a specimen on a lab table." he said.

"What's all this about Lionel?" Chloe asked.

"We finally found some semi-proof of what happened in Indonesia. I say semi because it doesn't really prove anything, it just confirms that Whitney was in Lionel's care."

"Care, my butt." Chloe said. "Claws are more like it. Anyway, what are we going to do about it?"

"Keep searching." Pete said. They all agreed and sat down to do some serious investigative work.


	15. Clark Kent's Unlucky Day

**Chapter 15**

"Monday, again?" thought Clark, as he dragged himself out from under a mess of sheet and comforter. His alarm clock was broken and the one on his watch hadn't awoken him again. He knew he was late. His mom had confirmed that five minutes ago when she told him that he was going to miss the bus. Rushing out of his room in super speed he ran into Chloe who had the same idea. They collided and both went flying backwards. Lana walked down the hall to find a mess of Chloe and Clark on the floor.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Head on collision of two super powered teens," blurted Chloe.

Lana looked oddly at Chloe and sighed.

"You're going to have to face the truth sooner or later, Lana." Chloe said. "We're not going to hide this for you."

"I didn't say I expected you to." Lana snapped, and walked down into the kitchen.

"Chloe, I know that you and Lana don't get along, but don't you think that was a little extreme?" Clark said.

"No, not really." She said apathetically. She then stood up. "It looks like we're running to school." She said.

"Guess so." Clark agreed. When they passed Lana who was eating, Chloe asked Lana if she wanted to travel the 'Clark Express' but she turned it down, saying that she could take her jeep. With that, Chloe and Clark zipped away to school.

Before they knew it second period had started. It was health class. Their teacher stood up in the front of the class and began her lecture. Chloe hated health class, so she took out a piece of her notebook and began doodling. Halfway through class, she looked at what she had drawn. Without realizing it, she had drawn a cute little alien Clark in the middle of the page. She showed Pete and he motioned for her to show Clark. Quietly she folded it and passed the picture to Clark.

Meanwhile, Clark was sitting in his seat trying to control the urge to burn everything. He hated health class because it was mostly talk about sex. Again he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he looked over at Chloe. She was trying to pass him a note. He took it and unfolded it, trying his best to look as though he was paying attention. He didn't know how to react to what he saw on the paper. A small alien likeness of him waved from the page. He didn't know whether to laugh or…well what was the other option? He took it in stride though, and realized that he was going to be the butt of all alien jokes from now on. He folded the paper up again and went to hand it back to Chloe. Just as he did, he was caught.

"Clark Kent! Care to explain why you were passing notes in my class?" the teacher asked.

"Um…err…well…" Clark began.

"That explains enough." She said, and immediately snatched the paper from Clark.

When she opened the paper she snickered a bit. "Did you draw this, Miss Sullivan?" she asked.

Chloe reluctantly nodded.

"I think I know of a proper punishment. You won't have detention, but this picture is going to hang on the wall for a few days so everyone can see it."

Clark and Chloe's faces went white.

"Aw, crap." She said. Then the bell rang, and while Clark, Chloe and Pete ran to cover up the picture, they didn't run fast enough. Everyone in the class managed to see the picture before they left for recess.

Clark heard murmurs from the laughing crowd.

"That explains a lot…" someone said, laughing.

"Yeah, Kent, always knew you were a flake, this explains it…" another person chimed in.

"You make a cute little alien…" someone else chimed in.

Clark couldn't take it anymore and left. He knew that no one really knew the truth but their remarks still unnerved him.

By the time lunch rolled around, the whole cafeteria had heard about the cute alien picture of Clark on the wall. Clark wanted to die.

"Don't worry, Clark. It'll blow over soon." Pete said.

Chloe looked at him. "I'm sorry." She said. "This was my fault."

"As long as they don't really know the truth it's fine." He lied.

He stood up and went to get his lunch. One of the cafeteria workers looked at him and smiled. Then she pointed two of her fingers up from her head and wiggled them like antenna. Clark just glared at her and said that he'd pass on lunch.

* * *

In Lionel's lab, Lionel stood watching Whitney as he was examined by scientists while lying on an examining table.

"Oh, god, how am I going to get out of this?" Whitney thought. He looked around as much as he could and every way out was blocked with the red meteor rock, which he knew that he wouldn't make it past. However, when he felt the surgeon trying to cut a knife through his skin he knew that he had to think quickly. With one arm he slung the two scientists aside and picked the third one up with one hand, slinging him towards Lionel. Lionel fell down. Whitney stood up, and noticed that the only way out was blocked by Lionel. "That's okay," he thought "I'll knock him down." However, when he came into close proximity to Lionel he began to experience that same weak feeling again, like he was being drained of all his energy. "Help…" he called out in a fading voice.

His prayers were answered. At that moment, Lex walked into the lab. Immediately Lionel turned around, but was still holding the rock toward Whitney. "Lex, how did you get in here?" he inquired.

"Being a Luthor has certain privileges, Dad. I figured that you, of all people, would know that." Lex remarked. Then he noticed a shaking Whitney on the floor and three unconscious scientists.

"What did you do to him?" Lex demanded.

"No need to get excited. I'm just containing him for a little experiment, that's all." Lionel explained.

"H-help me." Whitney whispered. He was blacking out.

Lex followed his better instinct and tackled his dad to the floor. What Whitney had done was horrible but this wasn't much better. He took the red rock and held on to it.

Whitney looked up. "Thanks Lex." He said.

But Lex's face was anything but friendly. "Don't move." He said.

"I won't hurt you, Lex. I don't know what came over me before, but I think it's passed now. Can you just get me out of here?"

Lex studied Whitney's face for a second, and then put the rock to the side and cautiously motioned for Whitney to follow. Lex knew that he was safe. He had a piece of his red rock in a box in his pocket. If Whitney tried anything he would nail him with that. Although he doubted he would have a problem. Whitney seemed pretty sincere.

"Where do you want to go?" Lex asked.

"I don't know. Maybe crash at your place?" he asked hopefully.

"Okay, fine. But if anything happens, I will make sure you pay. Do you understand?" Lex stated.

"Completely." Whitney said.

* * *

It was now forth period at school. This day had dragged on for Clark terribly. It was now geology class. He dreaded this class because any day he could walk in and expect to be faced with a giant chunk of kryptonite. And God help everyone if it was red. His teacher, Mr. Grant, walked out to his desk with a rock wrapped in tinfoil.

Clark winced but relaxed when he learned it was only a normal rock. After five minutes, though, he began to feel strange. Then he saw a bit of red sticking out of the side. "Oh God I have to get out of here." He thought, and panicked. He stood to get up but Mr. Grant stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going Mr. Kent?" he asked.

"Uh, the washroom. I don't feel so well." Clark said hurriedly.

Then the teacher grabbed his shoulder before he could leave and unfortunately had the rock in his hand. Clark was trying to keep his senses while at the same time convince the teacher that he needed to leave. He could see the red starting to go up his hands and knew that it wouldn't be much longer before the rock took him over completely. He just wondered if anyone else could see it. He hoped they couldn't. Then Chloe dropped her books and everyone's attention turned toward the noise. Clark took that as his cue to get out of there and began to run out of class. When he reached the hallway he was stopped by another teacher, his math teacher. It was her period off.

"Mr. Kent, what are you doing out of class?" she demanded.

"I-I'm feeling sick and I have to get to the bathroom." Clark said hurriedly.

Then Mr. Grant came up behind him. "Thank you Sara, but I'll handle this now." He said to the math teacher, "If it's not too much, could you mind my class for a few minutes?" She nodded, smiled and left.

Clark's gaze went to his geology teacher's hand. "Couldn't he have at least dropped the rock?" Clark thought. "Why do these things always happen to me?"

Then he realized that Pete would be affected too.

"Now, Clark," his teacher said, "Would you care to explain the rude display that just took place in my classroom?"

Finally the rock started to eat away at Clark, and reduced his inhibitions. He looked at the teacher with a red glow to his eye.

"There was no rude display. There was just an asshole teacher who wouldn't let his student go to the washroom." Clark said.

His teacher got a surprised look on his face. "Obviously you're not really sick, Clark. That little escapade interrupted my class."

"Oh well." Clark sighed. "Geology is boring anyway. I don't even know why we have to be in school."

With that Mr. Grant brought him up to the principal's office.

The small part of Clark that was fighting against the rock had a thought. He could tell the teacher that he couldn't tolerate that sort of rock either. Maybe that would work. But first he had to stop the rock's hold on him. Of course, that was easier said than done.

The principal looked at him with surprise. It wasn't very often that Clark Kent was sent to his office.

"What do you have to say for yourself, young man?" he asked.

"I had a good reason for leaving." He said, half in control, half not.

"Well why don't you enlighten us?" the principal asked.

Clark smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know." He said.

"I'm willing to give you half a chance, Mr. Kent, seeing as you haven't been a trouble student before. However, if this keeps up, I'll be forced to give you a week's detention." The principal warned.

Clark managed to gain control a little, but not a lot. "Well if Mr. Grant didn't bring in those damn rocks all the time then I wouldn't have to leave like I did."

"What do you mean those rocks?"

"I mean I can't be around the damn things. I told him that once before!" Clark exclaimed.

Mr. Grant looked questioningly at the rock he had in his hand. "You mean this?" he asked.

"What other rock would I be talking about?" Clark answered sarcastically.

Mr. Grant looked at the principal. "He did have a reaction in the last lab, but to the green kind. He told me he was allergic." He said, and shrugged.

The principal nodded. Mr. Grant left with the rock and brought it back to his class. Clark finally gained control again and sighed. He was lucky he hadn't just blurted out everything. Since this was Clark's first warning and he had explained himself somewhat, he didn't get a detention. The principal then asked the secretary to add the meteor rock to Clark's file as an allergy.

Clark walked back to class just in time to receive his assignment. The teacher had fine pieces of the rock he was just holding and everyone had to take one home to do the worksheet they were given.

Mr. Grant walked up to Clark after the period ended. "Don't worry, there's nothing in that one." He said. "But I don't appreciate the language you used earlier. There is no place for it here. Next time, just tell me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Clark said.

Walking out he pocketed the rock and thankfully, it didn't have any stray pieces of kryptonite in it. He looked and noticed Pete heading toward the door to leave school.

"Hey, Pete!" Clark yelled. "Where are you going?"

"I'm skipping off last class, man. You want to come?"

Clark looked gravely at Pete. It had to be the red meteor rock. That was twice that it had screwed up his day.

"Yeah, I might." He said. "Wait here a minute."

Then he ran and got Chloe, and asked her to go get the rock out of Pete's pocket. She tried, to no avail. When Pete had realized what was going on he had left quickly, cursing on them.

The late bell was about to ring so Clark scurried off to his class. Then he realized that he had study hall, so he grabbed his books and turned to head outside to follow Pete. He was caught by a teacher.

"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Kent?" she asked.

"The Torch?" Clark said.

"Well I might have believed you if you had been headed that way. Where are you supposed to be now?"

"Study hall." Clark sighed, giving in.

"Well I suggest you run along and get there. Next time I won't be so lenient."

"Yes ma'am." Clark said. This was just not his day. Since it was study hall, no student looked up when he was late. However, the teacher supervisor gave him a warning look. He walked over to an empty table and sat down. Then he took out his books and began to do some homework and some study. In the background a conversation was taking place between two students. Clark didn't mean to but his hearing picked it up. What he heard did not please him, to say the least.

"Did you see that in geology class?" Dale asked.

"What happened?" asked Melissa.

"Clark Kent went all weird and tried to leave."

"What's so bad about that?

"Well everyone was looking at his hands, and they were kind of pulsating red. Not really his whole hand but the veins in his hand. Then we heard him outside of class and he started cursing on the teacher."

"That doesn't sound like Clark."

"I know. That's what's weird."

Clark immediately felt a twinge of anger and guilt. Anger because they were talking about him and guilt because he should've been more careful. Standing up, he walked over to where the two were.

"I can hear you talking about me," He said, "and I'd appreciate it if you stopped."

"We weren't talking about you," said Dale. "We were discussing geology."

"Yeah, you were discussing geology - the events of geology class – the ones having to do with me, and I don't appreciate it."

"How could you have heard that?" Melissa asked. "You were almost halfway across the library."

"I've always had good hearing," Clark said.

"Hey, what was going on with your hand in class?" Dale asked.

"Huh?" Clark said, playing dumb.

"It was all glowing red and crap." Dale said.

"Maybe he's a meteor freak." Melissa offered.

"No, I'm not a meteor freak!" Clark exclaimed. "I don't even know what you're talking about!"

Looking down, he noticed his hands start to do it again. He quickly covered them up. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he noticed that it was Pete. "You came back." He said.

"Yeah I did." Pete said, and then dropped a piece of red rock into Clark's pant pocket where it wouldn't fall out. "Come on, man. Let's skip this joint."

Clark turned around to the people he was talking to before. "When I say for someone to stop talking about me, I mean it!" he said, and hit the table they were sitting at with his fist. The wood cracked and it tipped over. Then he grabbed his books and left with Pete.

Melissa looked at Dale, who returned her glance. Melissa had been the cafeteria worker who had teased Clark at lunch.

"I wonder if there's any truth to the alien story…" Melissa trailed off.

Dale stood up to try and pick up the table. "Well, it was meteor rocks that did something to him in class."

They both pondered the thought. "I still think he's a meteor freak," said Melissa. "But it doesn't matter if he is. Sooner or later everyone's going to know."

* * *

Outside Clark and Pete were planning on racing. However, Clark looked at Pete and said, "Who needs a car? We have super speed."

"True, true." Pete said. "But where should we go?"

"Home first. I want to change out of all this flannel." Clark said.

"You got it!"

Clark walked into his house and was about to go upstairs when Martha stopped him.

"How come you're not in school?" she asked.

"Because I didn't feel like it." Clark said. He then walked up the stairs and put on a leather jacket and tight black t-shirt, also taking his shades and putting them on. As he walked downstairs he ran into Jonathon.

"Clark, since you're home, I need help with some farm work. Can you come out here a minute?"

"Do it yourself, Jonathon. I'm having a racing contest." Clark said and sped out of the house and onto the dirt road, standing next to Pete.

After Clark had left, Martha and Jonathon looked at each other. "Red kryptonite." They mouthed.

* * *

Lex was driving home with Whitney in his car. He didn't know if he should be helping Whitney, but he chanced it anyway. He pulled on to the highway to go to his mansion when he spotted Pete and Clark. Slowing down, he asked them, "You guys need a ride anywhere?"

Clark smirked at Lex. "Ride? Why would I need a ride?"

Wanting to knock Clark's new ego down a notch, Lex said sarcastically, "I guess not, with that apparent teleporting ability you have. Sorry I asked."

Zipping over to the driver's side, Clark lifted Lex up out of the seat. "Teleportation? Ha, don't make me laugh. You might not want to mock me, Lex. I'm not someone you can toy around with, and I won't put up with your bullshit."

Whitney stood up. "Set him down Kent," he demanded.

"It's Kal. And what makes you think you can take me on?" Clark asked.

"This." Whitney said, as he zipped out of the car and in close proximity to Clark.

Immediately both Whitney and Clark began to feel effects, Whitney from the red rock, Clark from Whitney's essence of green rock.

Whitney looked at Lex. "He's weak now. I would say there's a red rock close to Clark. Get it."

Lex looked confusedly at Clark. Then Pete went to help Clark and became weak himself.

Lex went over and checked Clark's jacket pockets, finding nothing. Then he realized that it must be in Clark's jean pocket. He really didn't want to reach in there. Looking up he noticed a piece sticking out of Pete's jacket pocket and tried to grab it. He was unsuccessful in his attempt. Pete got out of the radius of the green kryptonite and picked up Lex, throwing him into the car. Lex didn't pass out, and tried to get up, but he was too weak. Clark had more tolerance to the nauseating pain caused by the meteor rock, and managed to stand up and walk away. However, before Clark left, he looked at Lex's car and set it on fire. Then he placed Lex far enough away that he would have to sit and watch his vehicle explode.

Laughing, Pete and Clark began to run in super speed. "Adios suckers." Pete yelled.

They decided to head back to the Torch, obviously not to do work of any kind, but to try and convince Chloe to come out. Of course, there was another reason Clark wanted to go back. When influenced by red kryptonite, Clark always liked to screw with people's minds when it regarded his secret, and he figured that today might be good for a few laughs. On his way in, he bumped into Nancy, another one of the girls in his health class.

She giggled when she saw him. "Hey Clark, I saw the cute pic of you." She said, laughing. "Aliens aren't supposed to look cute." She joked.

"What makes you think that?" Clark responded.

"Oh I don't know. They always look so grimy and gross in movies, but you're not. You're…hot." She said grinning. Clark realized that she was flirting, but thought it was an odd way of flirting, all the same. In his current state of mind, however, flirting was flirting, however the kind.

Clark grabbed the girl and gave her a full kiss on the lips. "Thanks babe." He said.

Pete was standing there laughing his nuts off. "Come on. Let's go find Chloe." He said to Clark.

When they entered, Chloe knew that something was up. "Hey guys, what's new? I thought you skipped off last period?"

"We decided to come back." Clark said. Then he swept Chloe off her feet and kissed her passionately. "Want to go somewhere…private?" he asked.

Chloe looked at Clark. She caught a glimmer of something in his pocket. Being his girlfriend, she wasn't afraid to reach in and get it. Before Clark could react, she had the red rock out of his pocket and in the small lead box she owned. Clark returned to his normal self.

He immediately remembered everything he had done that day. His face went white. He remembered tipping the table over in the library, making cracks to Nancy about him really being alien, and most of all, Lex having full sight of his speed, strength and heat vision. Immediately he knew that the stars were not in his favor today.

Chloe tried to pull the piece of rock out of Pete's jacket pocket to no avail. Quickly he speeded off, leaving Clark and Chloe to wonder where he'd went to.

"Damn Pete and that stupid kryptonite." Clark exclaimed. He was really pissed off at himself.

"Clark, calm down. It's alright." Chloe comforted.

"I have to see Lex." Clark said, and Chloe was left to feel a small breeze where she was sitting.

Lex was standing over his exploded car. It had been a beaut when he bought it, and it had cost well over 200,000. He shook his head and opened his cell phone to call for a ride. When he turned around, Clark was standing face to face with him. He closed his phone and glared.

"Clark, what gives?" he asked. "You just ruined my favorite car, and not only that, but how in the hell did you do it?"

"Lex, I can explain." Clark said, hoping he could think up an explanation in the next ten seconds.

"It better be good, Clark."

"I didn't do it at all. There was one of those bombs on the bottom of your car and it was timed." Clark lied.

"Alright, that may be plausible, but that doesn't explain why the car caught on fire first." Lex said, sensing some bull on Clark's part.

Clark looked at Lex blankly. "Maybe it's a new kind?" Clark said meekly.

Lex looked at Clark. "Clark, is it so hard to tell me the truth?" Lex sighed.

"That is the truth!" Clark exclaimed.

"You are the worst liar I have ever met Clark, and I am sick of the bullshit, so fill me in. And while you're at it, answer me this: who owns that octagonal key?"

"I…" Clark began.

"He does." Whitney said.

Whitney looked at Lex. "Does that explain anything?" he asked.

"A little. But I still want my answers." Lex said.

Clark began to panic and backed away from Whitney. He looked at Lex. "Why don't you explain to me what you're doing with Whitney?" he yelled.

Lex told Clark the truth. "Helping him escape from my dad's clutches in a lab." He said.

Clark was caught. He had hoped Lex would lie so he could catch him and claim the right to have secrets if Lex does, but it hadn't worked out that way.

"Lex, I just came to make sure you weren't hurt." He said.

"So are you Clark now or Kal?" Lex asked sarcastically. "Oh and while you're answering that, tell me why you didn't let me know you had the key, even though you knew I had lost it."

"I have to go." Clark said, and began to run away. Then Whitney caught his arm, before he could leave.

Whitney motioned for Lex to watch and Whitney gave him a full demonstration of his speed, strength and heat vision that he had as a result of Lionel. "Clark can do all of this, and more. In fact, he can also hear really well and he has something the scientists called 'x-ray vision'." He said.

Clark began to panic and his newly gained, not yet perfected power began to surface.

"Ah that's cold!" Whitney exclaimed as he felt his hand go numb. At the same time he let Clark go.

(AN: Whitney is not completely invulnerable. He has some sensation of hot and cold left and he can be cut, somewhat.)

Clark immediately held in his breath, forgetting that it did nothing. He stood next to the blown up car for a second, trying to regain control.

Immediately Lex's concern overwhelmed his thirst for knowledge and he ran over to help his friend.

"Clark, are you okay?" he asked, putting a hand on Clark's shoulder. He immediately gave a yell and pulled back. "Clark, we have to get you to a hospital." He said. Then he looked down at his hand. It was frost bitten.

Clark then tried taking shallow breaths, but that didn't help either. "I've got to go." he said. Although Lex was knew what Clark could do, he didn't have any proof yet, and Clark didn't want to give him any, so he ran away normally. However, as he ran he felt this weird sensation in his stomach. He kept running, but it kept getting worse and worse. Finally he looked down at his stomach and had the surprise of his life. He was floating about a mile above Lex's car, with Lex and Whitney looked up at him curiously.

"Oh God, heights!" he thought. His mind raced and again, Clark began to panic. "Just lower yourself. Think of touching the ground. Think." He instructed himself. He started to lower and finally he felt solid concrete. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think it's time for the truth, Clark." Lex stated. "Finally."

Clark decided to use his fall back plan. "Okay, Lex. You got me." He said. "I'm a meteor freak."

"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Lex asked. "But if you are I'm going to have to keep an eye on you since…"

"I'm not going to go nuts and kill people. Don't worry." Clark said. "And floating? I didn't even know I could do that."

Lex seemed to be satisfied with the answer. Whitney knew the difference but he let it slide.

"You could have told me." Lex said. "I wouldn't have hated you."

Clark just looked at his feet. His father wasn't going to be happy about this. "Maybe." He said, and looked up at Lex, before zipping away to check the town for Pete.

When he experienced no luck he came back to the Torch to pick up his books and then headed for home.

As he walked into his house, he heard, "Clark, get in here right now!"

Walking into the kitchen he saw his mother and father sitting at the kitchen table and he knew it was time for a talk. Throwing his book bag down and walking into the kitchen he reluctantly sat.

"Yes, it was red kryptonite, and no, I didn't try it this time. Pete slipped it in my pocket." Clark said.

Jonathon immediately became angry. "Why did you ever tell Pete, Clark? He knows how to manipulate you too much."

"Because today we had to do a worksheet in geology and it involved miniature chunks of red kryptonite, which ended up with Pete being affected and me being affected because of Pete."

Clark looked totally upset about that day. Martha, always concerned asked him, "Clark, sweetie, are you alright?"

"I would be if today never happened. Chloe was doodling and drew a picture of me as an alien and the teacher caught us and posted it on the wall. Now that's on the wall and everyone is making comments. Then, the incident with the red kryptonite happened and I got sent to the principal's office where I had to admit I'm allergic to the meteor rocks. Then, I tried to follow Pete to stop him when I was caught and had to go to study hall. I heard two students talking about me and how the red rocks caused something to happen to my hands. I told them to stop talking about me and for some reason they concluded that I was a meteor freak. Then Pete slipped a rock in my pocket and I tipped their table over with one hand and left. To top that off, I blew up Lex's car and gave him full view of my strength and speed. After I got the rock out of my system, I went back and something happened. I had to make the excuse that I'm a meteor freak." Clark explained. "There is no way this day could possibly get worse."

Jonathon was just sitting in his chair with his head in his hands. Martha put her hand on his arm. "It'll all blow over." She said.

"I don't believe it." Jonathon said. "Now what are we going to do? If everyone finds out about Clark…especially Lex Luthor... Clark, how could you be so careless?" he yelled, "And what exactly happened that you had to give him an explanation?"

"I started floating until I was a mile above Lex and Whitney."

"Floating!" Martha said. "Wait a minute. Whitney was there?"

"Yeah. Lex said that he was helping Whitney escape from his father's lab, but I still don't know what Whitney's intentions are."

Martha walked over to the counter and brought some apple fritters back to the table. "I think we need some cheering up. So let's do something together to get our minds off it." She said, as her way of dealing with the normal weirdness that surrounded her family.

Clark and Jonathon nodded. But Jonathon couldn't let the floating go.

"Did you try to float or did it just happen?" Jonathon asked.

"It just happened. I was running and I felt this weird feeling in my stomach and I realized I was a mile in the air."

Just as Martha turned on the television, a news broadcast came on. "Scientists are baffled by the frequent occurrence of sun spots this year. Communication links, and power shortages have been happening all across the world…"

"Oh no…" Clark sighed. "Not again."

* * *

"Package for a Mr. Lex Luthor." The delivery man said, standing in the doorway.

"That would be me," Lex asserted. With that, he signed the paper and took the package inside, ripping it open as soon as he reached his study. Although Clark had revealed quite a bit today, he just had to see what was on the tape from the caves. Putting it in his VCR, he sat down to watch.


	16. Antidote

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville nor am I affiliated with it.

Thanks to everyone for reviewing and I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

**Chapter 16**

When Clark got up the next morning, all he could feel was dread. Dread of going to school after all that had happened yesterday. Dread of answering the questions he just knew were going to show up that day, and most of all, dread of the sun spots. As he pulled on his shirt he glanced at the clock. It was too late for him to eat if he hoped to catch the bus. Grabbing his red and black flannel jacket he ran downstairs and was faced with an empty kitchen.

"Mom? Dad?" he yelled. "Chloe? Lana? Mr. Sullivan? Where is everyone?"

Walking over to the door he headed out to do his chores and look for everyone, when he heard someone sing out. He looked in the family room and sure enough, everyone but Lana and Gabe were there.

"Clark, we were having a family meeting." Martha said. "Don't worry about the bus. Gabe said that he'd drive you to school."

"We were thinking that being cautious is a good idea today, but you can't shirk school because of what happened. Go, but if anything happens – and I mean anything – call us and we'll come and get you." Jonathon said.

"What about the rumors?" Clark asked. "What about the things I said and did?"

"Just ignore what they say about you, Clark. Pretend that there's nothing to know." Chloe offered.

Clark just shook his head and then he and Chloe left to go with Gabe, who was waiting in the driveway.

Jonathon looked at Martha. "I'm heading out to do the chores, and then I'm going to look for Pete." He said.

Martha knew better than to argue. "I have to stay home in case Clark calls, so good luck." She said.

* * *

Clark received many odd looks when he entered school, some because of his actions, others because of the things he said, and most of all because of the rumors that were circling about him. His hearing was sensitive today and all he could hear swimming through his head was conversations of people in the hallway. Someone's watch went off and he immediately put his hands on his ears. The noise felt like it was going to shatter his skull. He knelt down, with Chloe behind him, asking him what was wrong. He looked at her lips moving but no sound came out. In fact, all sound stopped for a fraction of a second, and then everything came flooding back in.

"Is it true that he's a meteor freak?"

Beep!

"Look at him now. What's wrong with him?"

Beep!

"I heard he tipped over a table in the library yesterday with one hand."

Beep!

"Melissa says she thinks he really is an alien…"

Beep!

"Nancy says he kissed her yesterday and said some really weird stuff."

Beep!

"Clark, are you okay?"

Beep!

"Clark, speak to me."

"Ah!" He yelled, frustrated. Now everyone was really staring at him. Closing his eyes he focused on one sound – Chloe's voice. Then his hearing went back to normal – well as normal as his hearing was. Looking up at the crowd he said, "Earaches," as if to explain what happened. He grabbed his book bag and headed toward his locker as quick as he could without looking suspicious. One of the jocks purposely ran into him as he was putting in the combination. He just ignored it. He didn't want to draw any more unwanted attention to himself. Then three jocks stood around him. One shoved him up against the locker. "That was my Nancy that you flirted with yesterday." He said.

"I don't want any trouble." Clark said.

The jock mocked him. "Did you hear that guys? He doesn't want any trouble. Well he should have thought about that before he kissed my girl." Then he slammed Clark against the locker again as if to emphasize his point.

Clark took a deep breath. "I'm really not in the mood this morning so back off." He said.

The jock let him slide back down his locker. "What are you going to do, tip a table over on me, Kent?" With that, he laughed.

Chloe ran up behind Clark. "Don't do anything stupid." She whispered.

"I'll go you one better than tip a table over if you keep it up. Now leave me alone." He said, angry. With that, he finished putting in the combination lock. However, when he went to open up his locker, he found it jammed. Giving it a tug, the door came off in his hand. He looked at the door, surprised, then at the jocks.

The one who had been picking on him, Dave, got a look of pure terror on his face. "S-sorry for bothering you K-Kent." He blurted. With that, he turned to leave quickly. The two guys with him glanced strangely at Clark and turned to leave.

Then the principal came out into the hallway. "What's the commotion about?" he asked before noticing the door in Clark's hand.

"It just came off." Chloe covered.

Brushing it off as another normal high school incident, the principal made a mental note to call the manufacturer about a defect and gave Clark a temporary locker.

Recess time, Clark and Chloe were sitting outside on one of the benches. Neither one felt like eating, especially since health class was next.

Then a swanky silver car with rising doors, akin to a race car, came rolling up the parking lot. The power windows rolled down to reveal a bald, attractive young man wearing shades. He had one hand carefully placed on the wheel while the other rested on the side. "Clark, can I speak to you?" He asked. His smile looked like that of a lion that had caught its prey and confidence flowed from him.

Clark looked up and saw Lex.

"Tell him you'll talk to him another time." Chloe said.

Clark shook his head and began to walk over to the car. When he reached it, Lex took off his shades. His eyes glistened with knowledge.

"I have something to discuss with you, but not now. Drop by after class." He said, and waving goodbye, he was gone before Clark even had the chance to ask him, "Like what?"

The bell rang and Chloe and Clark headed for class. As soon as he walked in, the picture that Chloe had drawn was staring him in the face again. He sat down and tried to ignore it. There was an empty spot where Pete should be. Clark felt a twinge of guilt. He should be out looking for Pete, not sitting here. He couldn't leave now, though, so he sat back in his desk and tried not to worry, as hard as that was.

* * *

Jonathon had found Pete. The problem was that Pete was headed directly for Lex's mansion, and that was bad news indeed.

He had found out the night that Clark was almost kidnapped, that the rocks, for some reason, didn't affect Martha and him. Therefore he had searched for a piece of green kryptonite before he left so he would have it if he absolutely needed to use it. He chased Pete to Lex's gate and then hid from sight. Looking in, he realized that Lex wasn't at home. Pete seemed to realize this too, and broke the handle on the front door, letting himself in. An alarm went off, but Pete smashed the controls. Then he hid inside the house. Jonathon stayed outside to warn Lex.

Inside, Pete noticed a tape case lying out on Lex's desk. The label of the case was blurred, and Pete couldn't pick it out. He checked inside, but there was no tape. Glancing around for a VCR, he noticed one in the corner and walked over, pressing the eject button. It spat out a tape which was labeled in red permanent marker. Pete read the covering. It said "Security tape/Kawatche Caves." His first reaction was to break it, but before he could do that he had a thought. Then he put it in its case and pocketed it, in case he needed it to blackmail Clark. After all, there were more ways to convince Clark to do something than red kryptonite, although that was the most fun. Hearing a car pull into the driveway he quietly stood to the side of the doorframe and waited for Lex to enter.

Outside, Jonathon walked up to the car that had just pulled into the driveway. As much as he hated Lex, he didn't want him killed.

"Lex, you can't go inside." He said.

"Mr. Kent. What a surprise. Why not?" Lex asked.

"Pete is not stable right now and he's inside your house, waiting for you." Jonathon said, beginning to use the excuse he had thought up to tell Lex. "We think he's been affected by the nicodemus flower again."

Lex got out of the car. "Look, Mr. Kent. Don't think I don't appreciate the warning, but I'm not going to believe any more of these lies you and Clark have been feeding me. You don't think I was smart enough to figure it out? The meteor shower, Clark, all the people he's saved, yesterday's events, and now this. It's not hard to put the pieces together." He began. "And don't you ever talk to me like I'm the pinnacle of deceit anymore, not after all the lies you and Clark have told me. What really is wrong with Pete? I will know if you're lying."

Jonathon looked at Lex, shocked. "I came here to warn you about Pete." He said. "What's wrong with him is none of your business. You know, I was actually starting to believe Clark. I thought that you might actually be different from Lionel. I guess not."

Pete, hearing the commotion and tired of waiting, walked outside.

"Lex, you've done nothing but ruin our lives. Why did you even come to Smallville anyway? Today I'm going to do something about it. Something I've wanted to do for a long time."

"You're going to kill me. Is that what you're going to do, Pete? And then you'll end up in jail and get the death penalty. Is it really worth it?" Lex asked.

Pete didn't answer, but zoomed over and picked Lex up. He then slung him at the car. Before he could hit though, Jonathon zoomed in front of the car and caught Lex. Mentally berating himself but knowing that he did the right thing, Jonathon let Lex down and hauled the green rock out its lead box in his pocket. Pete flinched and dropped to the ground. Not wanting to hurt the boy any more than he was, Jonathon asked Lex to check Pete's pockets for anything. Having seen Pete yesterday, Lex guessed to check his jacket pocket. He found a piece of red meteor rock in it and took it out, putting the rock inside the box he carried in his pocket. After Jonathon put the green rock away, Pete returned to normal and stood up.

"I feel weird." He said. "I need to apologize to Clark and Chloe! I have to get to school."

"I'd wait until school was over." Jonathon said.

"Do you mind if I wait at your house, Mr. Kent?"

"No, it's not a problem."

Lex glanced at the object sticking out of Pete's pocket. He walked up to Pete and pulled it out. "What are you doing with this?" he asked angrily.

"I might ask you the same question." Pete remarked. "You never gave up investigating Clark did you?"

But Luthors never back down. "You had no right to snoop in my house and take this." Lex practically yelled.

Then Pete quickly grabbed the movie and broke it in half. "You'll never see what's on it again." He said, knowing full well what the tape had on it. "And don't try to tell anyone what was on it. No one will believe you."

Lex's gaze rested on the broken tape. It was the only proof he had of anything. Taking it back, he quickly listed in his head people who could fix, or copy broken tapes.

Jonathon and Pete turned to leave. Jonathon stared menacingly at Lex. "Stay away from my family." He said. Then he and Pete walked off the premises.

* * *

It was lunchtime at school and Clark was sitting at his normal table with Chloe and Lana. So far the day hadn't been too bad, save for the morning incident. Clark was still nervous, though. He was afraid that people were going to figure it out. Chloe stood up. "I'll be back. Just heading to the bathroom for a sec." she said. She went into a subtle jog out of the cafeteria which turned into a zoom just as she reached the cafeteria door.

"Oh no!" she thought. "I can't do this! Not now!"

She was lucky. The speed had stopped just before anyone saw her. She sighed from relief and continued on her way.

Luckily, the rest of the day passed without incident. However, on his way to Lana's jeep after school Clark bumped into Melissa.

"The whole school knows that you're a meteor freak." Melissa said. "And if they don't, the rest will know by morning."

"But I'm not!" Clark protested. "I don't know why you think I am!"

"Do you call tipping over a long heavy oak table with one hand normal? The events of geology class yesterday…is that normal?"

Clark sighed. "I'm allergic to the meteor rocks. It's just an allergy. And the table is light. Any jock could lift it."

Melissa looked curiously at Clark. "Don't deny it. You're a freak, and eventually you're going to go crazy. You belong in Belle Reve, with the rest of them." She spat.

Suddenly Clark felt a burning in his eyes. Squinting, he replied, "Believe what you want, Melissa," and walked away.

While walking along the parking lot towards Lana, who was sitting in her vehicle (she was giving Chloe and him a ride) the burning became increasingly intense. Realizing he had to let it out, he looked at the pavement. It was better than setting something on fire. With that, the pavement began to melt, while Melissa watched in amazement from her vantage point.

Lana and Chloe had been waiting in the jeep, but Lana turned off the ignition and ran over to Clark. "Are you okay?" she asked, those being the first words she had said to Clark since the incident.

"Fine. Never been better." Clark lied, hurt that it took something like this for Lana to talk to him.

Then the heat vision stopped as soon as it started and Clark and Lana ran and got in the jeep.

She drove to Lex's first because Clark had told her that Lex wanted to see him. Clark walked into the mansion until he reached the room with Lex's pool table. Lex was honing his pool skills when they came in.

"What did you want to discuss?" Clark asked, getting directly to the point.

"You lied to me again, Clark. Even when you opened up a little and told me you were affected by the meteors, it was a lie."

"No, that was true." Clark said.

Lex slammed his fist down on the pool table. "Don't lie to me!" he yelled. "You're not affected by the meteors, because you came with them. Didn't you?"

Clark felt a large lump in his throat. He swallowed. "Who told you that?" he asked.

"I figured it out. Even if I had believed your meteor freak story I would've noticed sooner or later that each meteor freak only had one 'ability' as you call it, that they could use. It's obvious that you have many. I've taken your disrespect for too long, Clark, and I'm sick of it. If you had come to me with this and told me, I would've put all of my resources toward protecting you: keeping you safe, but you had to lie to me from day one."

Clark remembered the dream he had where Lex learned his secret. The same thing was happening. "Lex, it wasn't my fault. I wanted to tell you, I really did, but Dad wouldn't let me tell anyone."

"Especially not me, the son of Lionel Luthor." Lex said bitterly. "You couldn't make your own decision? You certainly did when you told Pete."

"How did you know about that?" Clark asked.

"Call it intuition. You also made the decision when you told Chloe. Your parents didn't have a say in either."

"Lex, why is it such a big deal? I didn't know how you'd react." Clark said meekly.

Clark felt his heat vision start to flare up again and murmured a small, "Can we discuss this later?"

"You're not going anywhere until you explain to me the exact truth."

"I thought you knew already." Clark said, trying to hold back the heat.

"I do. But I'd like to hear it from you. I'd like you hear you be honest for once." Lex told him.

"I have to leave." Clark stated firmly.

Lex walked up to Clark and put his hand on Clark's shoulder. "If you leave now, you're throwing away our friendship. That is, if it ever was a friendship." Lex stated.

It was now too late for Clark to get out of the mansion. "Lex, get a piece of metal or something." Clark said.

"What for?" he asked. Then he saw the blinds in his office begin to light on fire.

"Just get it!" Clark yelled.

Lex ran to get something metal and at the same time grabbed the fire extinguisher. When he returned the flames had almost engulfed the entire window. He gave the metal to Clark, who now looked at it instead of the blinds and Lex put out the fire. When Lex turned around, Clark was looking around okay and he was holding a red hot piece of metal. Clark sighed, and using his breath, he froze the metal so it wouldn't burn anything when he set it down. He set it on the desk and it broke.

Lex glanced at Clark. "I guess that's how my car exploded."

"Yeah, it is. But I wasn't myself when I did it. Lex, I'll admit it, but just promise me that you're not going to do anything rash, like send me to a lab or anything."

"I won't, Clark. I thought you knew that by now."

Clark started to say something, and stopped. "Okay Lex. Have it your way. I have been lying to you. I'm not a meteor freak, I'm an alien, and I can do certain things because of it."

"Was that so hard?" Lex asked.

"How did you find out?" Clark asked.

Lex averted his eyes.

"Come on. I was just honest with you, now be honest with me. How did you know?"

Lex held up the broken security tape. "The security cameras in the caves. I found out all about you, Jor-el and Lara."

"Lex!"

"Clark, it wasn't my idea to put new concealed cameras in the caves."

"Well it sure as hell was your idea to watch the tapes! Lex, I thought I could trust you." Clark yelled.

"Join the club." Lex said sarcastically.

Clark's glare made Lex rethink his earlier plan to repair the tape. He took one look at the broken piece of plastic VHS cassette on his desk, and then threw it in the garbage. He didn't need it anymore anyway.

"Clark," he said, returning to his normally calm demeanor, "You can trust me. I'm not going to call my father nor am I going to call a laboratory to come and get you. I don't care that you are what you are. I was just angry that you lied to me. Now, if it's not too much could I ask you to explain why my wall just caught fire?"

"Well I know this sounds strange, but I can shoot fire from my eyes. Usually I can control it but today there are sun spots and its gone crazy."

"Fire from your eyes? Where have I heard that before?" Lex said, thinking. "The legend of Naman. Then that must mean…"

"Lex, no. I mean, you don't really believe in that, do you?"

"You're the legendary Naman. No wonder you were so interested in the caves."

"Well…yeah." Clark admitted.

"Then that means…I must be Segith." Lex supposed.

"Lex, it's only a legend." Clark said.

"They expect me to turn on you?" Lex asked rhetorically, almost breaking the pool stick that he had picked up.

"Lex, it doesn't say…"

"I heard about it, Clark. Segith and Naman are friends, and Segith betrays Naman. 'Together they will be the balance between good and evil.'" He said, angrily.

"Lex, we make our own destiny." Clark said.

"As long as you believe that, Clark, maybe we won't be doomed to kill each other." Lex said.

After pondering for a few minutes, Lex began to say something: "Anyway, Clark, this is still a lot of information to process, even for me. Give me a bit of time to digest it and come back tomorrow. Maybe then you can tell me a bit more."

Clark's worried look made him wonder if he had left out something. He realized that he had.

"You have my word that I won't tell my father. I do accept you, Clark. You know that, right?" Lex said.

Clark nodded.

Lex remembered another point he meant to bring up. "By the way, don't you think it's about time we had a clean up effort for those meteor rocks?"

"I think that's a great idea." Clark said, relaxing a bit. Then he remembered something. "Yesterday, when I trashed your car, it wasn't me. The red meteor rock that hurts Whitney, makes me act differently. I'm really sorry, and I know that doesn't bring back your expensive car, but…"

"Don't worry about it. I have more than enough money to get a new one. Besides, what's a damaged car among friends?"

With that, Clark left, relieved that Lex had accepted him yet worried about what his dad was going to say.

* * *

Lana and Chloe were talking in the jeep.

"I wonder what's taking him so long." Chloe said.

"I don't know, but I'm going in to check." Said Lana, as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the jeep. She walked right into Whitney. Instinct told her to run, so she did, yelling to Chloe.

"Lana, it's ok." Whitney said. "I'm okay now. I'm not going to hurt you or anything."

"I find that very hard to believe." She said.

Clark walked out of the mansion to find Whitney standing next to Lana. "Get away from her!" he yelled.

Clark and Whitney stood, looking at each other. Whitney raced over and grabbed Clark by the collar. Immediately Clark began to feel weak. Whitney began to lose his rationality again.

"I'll teach you to make time with my Lana." He said.

"I'm not making time with Lana." Clark said.

"You're a terrible liar, Kent."

"Whitney, listen to me. You need help." Clark began. "We need to get you to a doctor."

"No, Kent, we need to get you to a doctor, to expose you to the world. Then you can't ruin anyone else's life."

Worry became evident in Clark's eyes. That thought had hit home.

"You're the reason this town is messed up. If it wasn't for you everything would be fine. Lana and I would still be together, without you constantly trying to break us up."

"No, actually it's not my fault." Clark said, although he didn't completely believe that himself.

"Of course it is. Your parents sent you here to check out Earth for an invasion, didn't they Clark? I've got one question. Does Earth meet the standards?" Whitney shot, knowing that his comments would hurt Clark.

"Wherever you heard that false piece of information, I don't know but I guess that source didn't tell you that Krypton was destroyed and I'm the only one left." Clark shot back.

Whitney picked Clark up with one hand and started to punch him with the other. This continued until Clark's face began to bruise and bleed.

Chloe stood by helplessly, knowing that she, too, would collapse if she attempted to stop Whitney. However, Lana walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. "Whitney, put Clark down. Please." She pleaded.

Surprisingly, Whitney did as she said. He held his head with his hand and glanced up at Clark. "Sorry," he said. "I don't know what came over me. It's been happening since…"

"Since what?" Clark asked.

"Since my last mission. There was some sort of bomb, and I remember the blacking out after the blast killed my teammates. Next thing I knew I was in the hospital with Lionel standing over me. I couldn't remember much – I had amnesia – but Lionel told me he'd take care of me until I healed. After that, I have blanks in my memory, but there's one thing I remember well. I have nightmares about it. They put me in a tank of green liquid, and shot electricity through the tank. Then everything went cloudy and I knew I had to get back. Somehow that all got contorted when I thought about Lana and you, and my jealousy took me over. When Lana told me there was someone else, my mind snapped and I became worse. It was only when Lionel said he was going to use me as a lab rat did I snap out of it."

"You mean…"

Whitney smiled a meek smile. "I plead temporary insanity." He said. "I don't know what happened back there but it's in my memories somewhere and I intend to draw it out. So do you mind telling me who it is you're with now?"

Clark looked warningly at Lana.

"I'm with Pete now, Whitney." Lana said.

Whitney looked disappointed. "Just promise me one thing okay? Promise me that you'll always be my friend."

She hugged him. "I will, Whitney, I promise."

Clark was a little jealous at the fact that Lana accepted Whitney easily, but still avoided him.

Clark glanced at Whitney and asked him, "Why did you tell Lex about me yesterday?"

"You were acting like such a jerk, I felt bad for Lex."

"But that was none of your business!" Clark exclaimed.

"It became my business when Lex saved my life. I owed him one."

"I got to give it to you, Kent. I knew you were hiding something, but I never knew it was that big. I also never realized that I'd end up a big part of it. Kind of ironic, isn't it? I thought I had to compete with you. Then Lionel ended up using me to try and create another you."

Clark went to put a hand on Whitney's shoulder to show support, but then pulled back because of the green radiation.

"It's ok. It was a shock at first, but I'm fine with it now. It's not easy though, is it? Having these…whatever you call them."

"I just call them abilities." Clark said. "And how did you find out everything?"

"I heard you guys talking about it in the tunnel." Whitney said. "Not to mention Lionel's fascination with it. That was all he talked about when he experimented on me. I guess he figured I'd never escape."

By now, Chloe had come over, realizing that Whitney must've been harmless.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Whitney's alright." Lana said. "And I've never been much of an investigative reporter but if Lionel knows all that Whitney says he does about Clark, you can guarantee that he's filed it and saved it in a database somewhere. We're going to have to sneak into Lionel's office and delete those files."

Clark was surprised at Lana's sudden loyalty to him.

"Whoa. Since when does Lionel know?" Chloe asked.

"I think he just found out recently," Whitney told the group, "Because it seemed as though he was excited about it, like he would be with a new breakthrough."

"We're going to have to plan this well and sneak in. Chloe, how are your hacking skills?" Clark said.

"A bit rusty, but good."

Lana nodded. So did Whitney and Clark.

"So it's set. Lionel will never know what hit him." Clark said. "Before we go, let's figure out if there's anything else we need to do as well, and maybe get Lex in on this."

"Good idea." Whitney agreed.

"Well, we were headed back to the house, Whitney, and seeing as this misunderstanding is cleared up, would you like to come?" Lana asked.

"There's just one problem with that." Clark said. He held out his hand and his veins began bulging. "I can't be around him."

"That could be a problem." Lana thought aloud. "Well let him come for now. We'll figure out something, I'm sure."

Clark, still a little hurt by Lana's immediate acceptance of Whitney, let the group know that he'd run home.

"I wouldn't last two minutes in the jeep around Whitney." Clark said as an excuse.

Chloe, not wanting Clark to go alone, decided that she, too, was going to run with Clark. "I'll see you guys at the farm." She said to Lana and Whitney.

With that Clark and Chloe left, and Lana and Whitney drove away in the jeep.

**Next:** Clark and Pete reconcile, and Clark tells Jonathon about the day's events (ouch)


	17. Consequences

**Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville, nor am I affiliated with it.**

**A BIG thanks to all the reviewers. Again, keep reviewing.**

**Chapter 17**

Clark walked in through the front door of his house, followed by Chloe, Lana, and Whitney. He noticed Pete sitting on the sofa waiting for him and his dad and mom sitting on the other side of the sofa.

"Clark, I just came by to say I'm sorry." Pete said. "Sorry for being a jerk to all of you."

"You don't have to be sorry Pete. We know it wasn't your fault." Clark said.

"I know. But putting red kryptonite in your pocket was a stupid idea." Pete told him. Then he noticed Whitney.

"What the hell is Whitney doing here?" Pete yelled, jumping up.

"He's ok." Lana said. "Pete, he knows about us, and he's not going to hurt you. He's been experimented on, and it did something to his head – something he can't remember. But as of now, like I said, he's ok."

"I think it's where I was thinking of Lana to get me through the experiments they did. It's probably a side effect." Whitney said, unsure.

Pete still seemed uncomfortable but he didn't say anything.

Then Jonathon spoke up. "Clark, I don't want you going anywhere near Lex from now on. Is that clear?"

Clark gulped. "It's a bit late for that, dad." He said. "I just came from his house."

Both Pete and Jonathon looked at Clark and said, "What!"

"Lex is investigating you, man!" Pete said.

"I know he was. It doesn't matter now anyway because he knows. I couldn't keep it from him any longer, so I told him." Clark said.

"Clark! That was an irresponsible and dumb thing to do!" Jonathon yelled. "All these years of protection, ruined in a single day."

"You act like this is hurting you. I'm the one who'd get taken away and experimented on, remember? Or did you even think about that when you decided that you get to make my decisions for me?" Clark said sarcastically.

"Now listen here!" Jonathon yelled. "Everything I did was only for your safety and your safety alone!"

"Jonathon, stop!" Martha said. "It's his choice."

"No, Martha, it's not his choice. He's not even eighteen yet. He can still be taken out of his home. And he's endangered everyone that knows. So yes, I am angry and I have reason to be. Clark, you're grounded." Jonathon said angrily.

"Dad, it's not like I went to Lex's with the intent to tell him anything! He told me what he knew and he was dead on." Clark protested. "What was I supposed to do, blatently lie to his face?"

"Clark, get up to your room now!" Jonathon ordered.

"I bet that's the only reason you kept me around all these years, wasn't it dad? I'm a great farm tool, one that you don't want to lose." Clark yelled, obviously upset, and having to get in his two cents before leaving. Clark then reluctantly headed up the stairs to his room. It was the first time he'd ever been grounded.

"Mr. Kent, don't you think that's a little extreme?" Lana asked. "If at all possible, Clark would have chosen not to tell Lex, but he obviously already knew something."

"And whose fault is it that Lex knows anything?" Jonathon asked. "It's Clark's. He should have been more careful."

"You're too hard on him, and one of these days he's going to resent you for it. I'm pretty sure it's impossible for anyone to understand exactly what he goes through every day, so take it easy." Chloe told him.

Clark listened in, noting Chloe's defense for him.

"You don't know what he's been through, Chloe. None of us does. But Martha and I have been with him all of his life and all we've ever wanted was for Clark to make the right decisions. Telling Lex was not a good decision." Jonathon argued. "It's a decision that could cause him a drastic change in his life."

"Did you ever think that maybe you're overprotecting him?" Chloe asked.

Before Jonathon could answer, Whitney jumped in.

"I've been through experiments that made me like Clark," Whitney said. "And I honestly think that Mr. Kent is valid in his fears, especially where Lionel is concerned. Trust me. Being in a lab is not fun."

Jonathon looked around, both surprised at Whitney and frustrated with the others. "I'm not changing my mind." He said, frustrated, "Kal-el will listen to me, even if I have to force him to!"

Everyone recoiled in horror at Jonathon's words, including Jonathon himself. Martha looked at him. "Jonathon, why did you say that?" she asked, fear evident in her eyes.

"I was just so angry I…I don't know Martha. I don't know what came over me."

Martha noticed the scar Jonathon had dim from glowing.

"Oh no." she said, her hands on his. "Not again, Jonathon. Not again."

Chloe, Lana, Pete, and Whitney took that as their cue to leave, with both Chloe and Pete worrying that they would turn on Clark too.

The four teens walked out to the loft. "What are we going to do now?" Lana asked when they reached the loft.

"Referring to Lionel, or to the strange incident in the house?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, what if we turn on Clark too?" Pete asked. That had been plaguing him for some time now.

"We'll just have to fight it, Pete." Chloe said.

Lana looked at Chloe. "Why would you turn on him?"

"Because of this." Chloe said, turning and displaying her scar to Lana. "The AI in the caves did this."

"Oh my God." Lana gasped. "Chloe it's glowing!"

Before Chloe could react her body stood up and began to leave. She felt herself being repressed by another being.

"Chloe, where are you going?" Pete asked.

She turned and glared at him. "I'm going to free Kal-el from his primitive punishment," she said, "And then I'm going to teach him to obey our father. His rebellious streak is shameful, siding with your pitiful race."

Pete's eyes widened and he stood up. Before Chloe could walk outside, he zipped in front of her. "You're not going anywhere." He stated.

"You're pathetic." She said. "You aren't even worthy of the power you now have."

"Give Chloe back you bastard!" Pete said, as the two erupted into a flurry of punches. But eventually, whatever entity was possessing Chloe let her return to normal, and she collapsed onto the floor.

"Chloe, are you ok?" Pete asked. Chloe's scar had stopped glowing.

"Yeah, I guess. I just feel a little dizzy, that's all." She said.

"Chloe, that entity just sounded like…like she was Clark's sister."

"What?" Chloe exclaimed. "Clark has a sister?"

"It seems so." Pete told her.

Chloe stood up and tried to calm herself. It didn't work so immediately she repressed the problem and jumped into full investigative reporter mode.

"Let's start planning for the break-in. We're going to have to fill in Clark later." Chloe said hurriedly.

Since Chloe seemed normal, and obviously didn't want anyone to ask her about her experience, the group began to plan for operation Lionel.

Clark processed the information from his room. What he had heard scared him, to say the least. His dad had been temporarily possessed by, well, his dad, or at least the chip's version of his birth father. And now he had found out, through hearing the commotion in the barn, that he had a sister. He shook his head and laid back. This could prove to be a very big problem.

**Next: Operation Lionel begins!**


	18. Devising Strategies

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Smallville, nor am I affiliated with it.

Thanks to all the reviewers! I've read some new reviews and it's nice to know that others have begun to read this story. I know three months is a little long, but I've been concentrating on one of my other stories. Another thing is that one of my faithful reviewers kindly pointed out some major mistakes, OOC moments, and loopholes I failed to acknowledge. I've read through and decided there is a lot that I could improve on in this story. Therefore, I will be revamping the entire story. However, the plot will remain intact, but one or two slight scenes or occurrences will be changed, along with some of the reasons for these occurrences. All in all, once it is done, I believe it will flow better. However, this may take a while, so I'll continue to update and as I change chapters I will re-upload them. However, I thought I'd post Chapter 18 as is since I've waited so long to update, but I'm now writing Chapter 19 along with it, so I'll update within a week. On an end note, thanks for being so patient with me, and please, enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter 18**

Clark sat in his room desolately, thinking about his punishment (he had pushed the other events out of his head for the time being). It was times like this he hated his dad; cursed him; wished he'd never been found. It was his decision to tell whomever he liked about his secret, and it wasn't even his fault anyway. If only his dad didn't have it in for Luthors, he wouldn't be sitting endlessly on his bed, grounded. Grounded – he'd never been grounded before. The word was bitter to his tongue, and the bitterness spread as he complained silently about being punished for something unnecessarily. A small tap on the window broke his circle of thoughts. Reluctantly he looked out. Chloe was standing under the window, along with everyone else.

"Jump out!" Chloe mouthed. "Sneak out."

Clark shook his head no. He would've run outside, but his parents knew when he was moving in super speed due to the breeze he caused, and he didn't want to jump out of the window because he was, well, rather afraid of heights. Well, saying he was afraid was being mild; he was petrified of heights. For someone who couldn't get hurt, he was pretty lame.

Chloe ran away and came back holding a sheet of some sort. Everyone grabbed the ends and held it out for Clark.

"Jump!" Chloe again mouthed.

Not wanting to look any more like a pansy than he already did, he wrenched open the window and jumped out, landing softly on the sheet. He started to feel pain and Whitney jumped back, apologizing rapidly.

Chloe yanked him up and they all piled into the jeep, heading for the Talon.

After being situated and getting their individual coffees, Chloe began to discuss the matter at hand. Her voice lowered to a whisper.

"Clark, we've decided on a few things in your absence. First of all, we're going to hit Lionel's office at midnight two days from now. Second, yours and Whitney's jobs have to occur away from the other. Thus, we have Whitney monitoring security. He is going to head straight for the main security control room, knock out the guy working there and take over. He'll alert us to anything we need to know. I'm going to sneak into Lionel's office. There's a good chance that he has red kryptonite there in case Whitney comes back, and I'm immune. Plus I have the best hacking skills. Pete will do a roundabout check so we won't have any surprise problems with security guards, etc. Lana is going to drive the getaway vehicle, since we don't want her to get hurt. You, Clark, are going to head directly to the file room and sift through the files. Get any files on you, the day of the meteor shower, and any other interesting incriminating evidence. I mean, we may as well make the best of it, right? And Lex is going to give us the key to get in. So what do you think?"

"It's a great plan. When were you talking to Lex?"

"While you were sitting up in your room feeling sorry for yourself." Chloe joked.

Clark shot her a hard stare. "Now that I think of it, there is one little wrinkle in your plan. Whitney may be watching the cameras, but what happens after? We'll still be on the security tapes."

"Okay…so maybe Clark has a point. Well, we can have Whitney take the tapes when we leave." Chloe added.

"What if we miss one, or what if the tapes can't be taken? Lionel has incredibly good security. We'd be wrong to be naïve when dealing with him." Clark said.

Chloe and Lana blinked, almost unbelievably, at the fact that Clark Kent, the once naïve farm boy was proving to be less naïve than everyone else. They realized that although the secret was out, Clark proved to have many more surprises in store for them.

Chloe regained her composure and began to answer, but Pete chimed in first.

"We burn out the cameras." Pete suggested.

"First I can look to see if there are any obvious threats in any of the rooms, then I'll signal for Pete and Clark to enter and burn the cameras. How does that sound?" Whitney suggested.

"Pete doesn't have heat vision." Chloe pointed out.

"Well then, Clark could burn the cameras." Whitney said. "What do you think?"

"Not too bad, but what would the signal be?" Lana asked.

"I have two CB's at home." Pete said. "They work within a mile or so radius. Whitney can tell Lana when the coast is clear, and she can tell us to enter."

"Sounds good…" agreed a voice from behind.

Everyone turned to find Lex standing next to their booth. "…except for one thing. You might need a blueprint. That's one of my father's bigger buildings, and the blueprint tells where each camera is. Unless, Clark has a power I don't know about," he joked.

Clark looked at him funny.

"What? Don't tell me you can see through walls too?"

Everyone looked at him strangely.

"You can't…can you?" Lex asked.

"Actually…" Clark began.

"Oh right, I remember now. So much has been going on, I'd forgotten. I guess that solves that problem then, but for those of us without x-ray vision, I still have an outline."

"Well, actually…" Chloe began, remembering that Clark still needed to show her how to use it.

"I think I'll take it. We need it for the non-super powered people here." Lana said, a little bitterly.

"Alright, can we stop discussing my, I mean your, I mean…our powers and continue with the plan?" Clark asked.

"Clark, my man, what's wrong?" Pete asked.

"Just thinking about how I am going to be grounded for longer than eternity when Dad finds out that I snuck out." Clark said. "I wish I had a power to duplicate myself."

"Like that freak you put in Belle Reve?" Lana said, suddenly realizing everyone was glaring at her. "What?"

"Freak is not the choice word." Chloe said.

"Let's not fight among ourselves. We need to get along for this plan to work." Whitney stated.

"So when is this going ahead?" Lex asked.

"Two days from now, at midnight." Pete offered.

"Okay, so what do you guys need a getaway car for?" Lana asked. "You guys can obviously run faster than I can drive, and have less of a chance of an accident too."

"We don't want anyone to find out, more than already know anyway." Clark said. "I mean this has been the worst week when it comes to secrets coming out."

Lex heaved a sigh. He hoped that this worked out.

"So do you mind if I have a seat?" Lex asked.

"Oh! Sure, sorry." Chloe said, blushing madly. She couldn't believe she hadn't even offered him a seat.

"So what's the plan for the rest of the night?" Whitney asked.

"How about some football?" Pete asked.

Clark's face scrunched as he pictured Lana being tackled by all four powered-up teens. "Or not. Think of something that wouldn't involve Lana as a pancake."

"That's ok. I was going to go on home for a while anyway." Lana said. "How about I just see you all later and we can catch a movie or something?"

"Sounds good." All but Lex agreed.

Lana stood up and left to go to her jeep.

"I think I could take you in football." Lex said, with a glint in his eye.

"Is that a challenge?" Chloe asked.

"You don't know what you're dealing with." Pete said smirking.

"I believe you'll find me quite capable." Lex challenged.

"Trust me, Lex. You'll get hurt." Clark said, but Pete accepted the challenge.

"Meet us at the fields behind the Kent's farmland." Pete said.

"It's a deal."

* * *

Lana, meanwhile, was driving back to the Kent's in the jeep. She wondered when everyone was going to be home. In all fact she knew that Clark, Chloe, Pete, and Whitney had wanted to just hang out and not have to worry about using their abilities. That was why she had left. It was difficult being the only non-super powered person, well, with the exception of Lex, who usually didn't participate in their activities anyway. It was times like these she felt a tinge of jealousy that she hadn't been there on the day that Clark's abilities were passed on, although she was glad she had done without the scar. Even so, she still felt left out. 

She suddenly noticed a vehicle in her rearview mirror.

"Why would someone be out on these roads?" Lana thought to herself. "Someone who doesn't know the Kents, anyway."

She passed the Smallville sign and took a right. The car followed. Even when she turned into the gravel road where the Kent Farm was, the car followed her. It definitely wasn't Lex, as it was an older, wore away model, something Lex wouldn't want.

She shut off the jeep and began to run towards the house. With each step it seemed as though she had further to go. She heard the door of the car shut and someone step out. She didn't even hear footsteps before someone strong grabbed her from behind.

"Help!" she screamed, but by the time the Kents ran outside, she had disappeared.

* * *

On the next farm over, Wayne Irig glanced at the Kent farm. Two vehicles had been parked outside, and now the car had left. He had an ominous feeling that something was wrong. A couple of minutes ago, he ran outside because he thought he had heard a faint scream. He could've sworn it came from the Kent Farm.

After checking around enough to satisfy him, Wayne walked back into the house. He could've called over to see if everything was okay, but he and his family had just moved into the previous Lang Farm and the phone company hadn't gotten around to hooking his phone up yet.

"Unpacking will have to wait." He thought. "I'm taking the truck over to see if anything's wrong."

P.S. And yes, it does matter that Dale and Melissa, as well as Mr. Grant, are suspicious.

Something does come out of it, you'll just have to wait and see.

Please keep in mind when reading, too, that I'm trying to bring in different characters from other shows such as Lois & Clark, to kind of connect the two. So to let you know, Wayne Irig was the Kents' neighbor in Lois & Clark. If you're really curious, see the episode "The Green Green Glow of Home"


	19. Specimen Number 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville and I'm not affiliated with it.

**A/N (Important, Please read):** Just to let everyone know, Chapter 19 is not completed yet. However, I figured I would give everyone this preview of what's to happen. Also, to let everyone know, after writing chapter 18 I decided to re-write all of the other chapters before updating 19. This is because some of the events in 19 depend on previous events. Therefore, all of the previous chapters have been rewritten and are now updated. The basic plot remains the same, but a lot has changed. There are scenes added, in particular, scenes for Clark and Chloe's discussion, Whitney's mental break, and Lionel's thoughts about his project. Gabe's discussion has been updated. I've also updated the fight in the tunnel, as someone mentioned to me that it was too one-sided. Other interesting things have happened at the caves as well. There are a lot of new fun moments too. Therefore, since a lot has been added, I recommend backtracking and reading the story so you'll be up to date. I believe you'll find that now it flows better, everyone is in character (for the most part) and the conflicts have increased. Of course, many things are the same, but I can't say which, since I don't want to ruin your reading for you.

Also, the names for the chapters haven't been updated, nor have I added the disclaimers to the updated chapters yet. I'll be doing this when I get some time, but until then, please don't pay too much attention to it.

Thanks for your time, and please enjoy the story!

Chapter 19

Lana woke up in a small room on a small bed. There was one solid wall and three glass walls surrounding her. She was held down by metal cuffs from the bed. Lining the floor around her were pieces of rock, both green and red. Everyone rock she turned her head to look at made her head pulse. They were all glowing.

Eerily the room outside was vacant. There were no scientists like she expected to see. However, she soon heard voices coming down the hallway in the corner. Full of panic and need to get away, she tried to sit up and with some miracle the metal cuffs popped off as if they were made of plastic.

Feeling a little woozy she stumbled over to the glass door ahead of her and tried to open it. It was sealed from her side. Every time she tried to knock the door down she felt tired, drained and most of all extremely nauseated. Looking down at herself she realized her hands had a greenish tint, but realized that once she got out of there she could figure out what was wrong with her. Giving the door one last heave, it crashed down and she heard the people in the hallway scurrying toward her. When she stepped near the red rock, it too began glowing, and suddenly Lana didn't care about sneaking out anymore. She felt energized. She was going to kick some ass.

Running down the hall, Lana drop kicked one scientist and slammed another one's head against the wall. By this time, however, the alarm was sounding and people were coming left and right toward Lana. Halfway down the corridor whatever had energized her wore off and she was hit with a huge headache. She turned to run and was hit with the nauseating feeling again, so much so that she fell to her knees and vomited all over the floor. Slightly turning her head, she saw Lionel standing with one of the accursed rocks that killed her parents.

"What have you done to me? What do you want?" Lana whispered meekly.

"You are going to help me catch Mr. Fordman again, Miss Lang. That is, when your treatments are complete."

Lana looked into Lionel's eyes and shivered.

* * *

Wayne Irig knocked on the door of the Kents' house. Martha answered.

"Hello, can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Hi, my name's Wayne Irig. I just moved into the neighboring farm. I don't mean to butt in, but I was outside and I heard a scream from over this way. Is everything ok?"

Martha looked gravely at him. "I, well, no, not really." Martha found herself saying. "I heard a scream too and when I ran outside Lana's jeep was here but Lana's not home."

"Lana?"

"One of my son's friends who's staying with us. I reported her missing but the police told me that she's not officially missing until forty-eight hours have passed."

Irig could see that the woman was worried. "Anything I can do?"

"No, I guess not. But thanks for coming over. By the way, my name is Martha Kent."

"I heard about the Kent farm when I came to town." He said.

"I hope you've heard good things." She said. "Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?"

"No, that's ok. Another time maybe? I have to get back and finished unpacking. Thank you anyway." Irig said. He knew that Martha didn't really want him coming in now. He would drop over at a better time.

Martha smiled weakly. "Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call on us."

Wayne nodded and smiled, and walked down the steps and the long driveway to his vehicle.


	20. Vulnerability

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville and I'm not affiliated with it.

**Chapter 20**

In the field behind the Kents' farm, Lex played football with four powered up teens. Chloe threw a pass to Pete, who was on her team, and Clark intercepted it, running now towards her. He passed the ball to Lex, who ran with it for forty yards before being intercepted by Whitney.

"Damn," Lex thought. "I almost had a touchdown."

Chloe, Pete, and Whitney were winning by one point. So far, the teens had been holding back so that the game would be fair to Lex. However, his next request surprised them.

"You guys don't have to hold back, you know. I want to see what I'm up against." Lex said, with a glint in his eye.

Pete rolled his eyes, while Chloe smirked and said, "Ok, but remember, you asked for it."

With that, Whitney threw the football to Chloe, who zipped a hundred yards away and caught it. Lex looked on in wonder as Clark speeded in front of Chloe, and she ran into him, bouncing backwards and dropping the ball. Clark caught it and passed it to Lex.

"Uh oh." Lex thought, and ran with all of his might, realizing the significance of the can of worms he had just opened.

Whitney intercepted Lex from the side, making sure not to hit him too hard, for fear of injuring him. However, it was still a fine blow and Lex fell, rolling as soon as he hit the ground. But he still clutched the football. Lex stood up and ran again and Clark ran ahead of him, blocking. All of a sudden, there was a yell.

"Clark!" Pete exclaimed, in warning. Pete had tried to super speed in front of Clark to stop him, but still not being in complete control of that ability, he had gone faster than he wanted and couldn't stop. Pete ended up zooming completely off of the field and into the trees.

"I have to go and get him." Clark said, zipping away.

Lex looked at Chloe. "How come you're so good at it and Pete's not?"

"I learn quickly." Chloe joked, picking up the football that Lex had dropped. "But I'm still not that great at this strength stuff."

Sure enough, as if to acknowledge her statement, the football flattened in her hand.

"Crap." She sighed. "Oh well, there's always another day for football."

At that moment, Clark and Pete ran into view. Clark began to slow and Pete, watching Clark like a hawk, tried to imitate him and began to slow down as well. However, Clark stopped, and Pete tripped and rolled head first into the dirt, completing three forward somersaults until he stopped. He spit out dirt, stood up, brushed himself off, and shook his head.

"What happened to the football?" Clark inquired. "Or do I need to ask?"

Chloe sighed. Then she immediately began to clutch her head. When she opened her eyes, all of the guys were still standing around, but in boxers. Chloe blushed madly. She made the mistake of looking at Clark, and suddenly the heat began to build up behind her eyes. Not knowing what it was Chloe began to wipe at her eyes frantically.

Clark recognized the signs not a moment too soon. "Duck!" he yelled to everyone, and heat blazed out from Chloe's eyes, scorching everything in sight. When it had stopped, Clark noticed that a great portion of grass was on fire, and was spreading toward the trees rapidly. He couldn't put it out in super speed, as that would spread the fire out more. His mind panicked. What was he going to do?

Chloe seemed to come to life instantly, realizing that the current situation was her fault. "Clark, oh my god, I'm so sorry, I just…I…the x-ray vision came back and…"

Clark shared a look with her, and immediately she understood why Clark hadn't told her just how the heat vision worked. She blushed again. Then the smoke caught everyone's eye, and Chloe realized that they were going to have to act fast to stop the fire. She, along with Pete and Whitney, began to go into super speed when Clark stopped them.

"It'll spread the fire." He said. "I guess we'll just have to go and try our best to pat it out with our hands."

"I don't know if I'm invulnerable." Pete said.

"I would say you are, Pete." Chloe said. "You did knock a hole into a cabin wall with your body and not feel it."

"I felt that plenty!" Pete exclaimed.

"I can't help either." Whitney said regretfully. "I'm not completely…like Clark…in that way."

Clark looked worriedly at the fire, which was getting bigger by the moment.

Lex pulled out his cell phone and began to dial the fire department. Someone picked up. "There's a situation with a fire..." he began.

Clark realized he had to do something. An idea formed in his head. "This had better work," He thought, "or that fire is definitely going to burn down acres of forest tonight."

He held in his breath like he had done in practice with the scarecrow, and slowly allowed it to cool along with his body temperature. When he noticed his skin get a whitish tint, he let all of the air come barreling out of his lungs, and toward the fire. Slowly each flame froze in mid crackle, and nothing was left but a field of ice lined with icicle fires, trailing almost all of the way to the trees. Clark stood looking at the results in amazement.

So did Lex. The voice on the other line had to call him back to reality. "Hello? Sir? Sir? What's the address?"

"Address? Oh…never mind. It was a false alarm." Lex said into the cell phone, and closed it shut.

After the situation with the fire, Clark didn't think it a wise idea to stick around the area, so Lex offered the four a ride, and they began head home. On the drive, everyone had some sort of compliment to give to Clark.

"Clark, that was amazing." Lex said.

"Yeah that was really cool." Pete agreed.

"Definitely the most awesome thing I've ever seen, Kent." Whitney admitted.

"Truly Torch worthy." Chloe joked.

Everyone glared.

"I was just kidding!" Chloe protested.

The looks subsided slightly.

Chloe shrugged. "You believe me, don't you Clark?"

"You know I do." Clark said, holding her in an embrace.

**A few minutes later…**

Chloe, Clark and Pete walked down the dark driveway as Lex drove away with Whitney.

"I think I'm going to head home now, guys. I just didn't want to be in the car with those two." Pete said, still a little distrusting of Lex and Whitney. After a small discussion of whether or not Pete could super speed home, Chloe decided to drive him.

"I'll be home in a few minutes." She said, and left.

Clark walked up the steps to his house, and upon stepping inside he knew that something was wrong. The atmosphere was gloomy and uninviting, which never described his house normally. The second thing he noted was Lana's absence.

"But didn't I see her vehicle in the driveway?" he said aloud.

"Yes." A voice next to him said. He recognized it as Gabe's.

"Lana's gone missing again, Clark." Gabe explained, with a worried look on his face.

"Again?" Clark sighed. "But she must've arrived here safely, since her jeep is outside."

"Yes, and no, I'm afraid, son." Jonathon said, walking over to the counter. "We heard her screams from inside the house, but by the time we got outside she was gone."

"But can't you both super speed now?" Clark asked, eyeing his parents.

"Yes, and we did, but we still didn't see anyone." Jonathon explained. "Whoever it was had to have been faster."

Clark turned to leave, but Jonathon grabbed his arm. "Do you really think that you can go up against this thing alone?" he said. "If it's faster than we are, it's already at an advantage, and I doubt that speed is all it has."

"Someone has to stop it." He said.

"You don't even know the direction it headed." Gabe said.

"I'll find out." Clark told him, determined.

"Let your mother and I go." Jonathon said. "We're the ones that are resistant to your weakness. It'll be safer."

"But Mom doesn't even know how to use her abilities!" Clark protested.

"I do so." Martha disagreed from the next room. She walked into the kitchen. "Your father has been helping me."

"So it seems." Clark said, realizing that her hearing certainly worked. He looked at his mother. "Alright, fine, but I want to come along."

"Well it's no good to go tonight. We should wait for morning and look for clues, starting in the driveway." Jonathon said.

"Dad…we can find clues tonight. By tomorrow it might be too late." Clark said.

"I understand your concern, Clark, but unless you've developed some sort of infrared vision too, we're not going to see much in the dark."

Clark slumped, defeated, and reluctantly went up to his room.

Ten minutes later Clark heard a soft knock on his door, and Chloe walked in. She shut it and walked over, sitting down on Clark's bed and immediately cuddling into him. He leaned into her embrace as well, and both sat there for what seemed like an eternity.

Chloe broke the silence. "I heard about Lana." She said.

Clark nodded.

"Don't worry. We'll find her. But there's nothing we can do until tomorrow, when we can actually see and look for clues."

Clark first eyed Chloe, wondering if she had been replaced with a pod person. "Chloe Sullivan is not going clue searching at night? That's a first."

"Look, farm boy, your parents are right, what can I say?" Chloe said.

"It's the first time my parents ever stopped me from leaving." Clark admitted.

"They're worried about you, Clark. They don't want you running headfirst into situations you don't have all of the facts about."

"I seem to recall a certain blonde that liked to do that a lot," he teased.

Chloe pouted and folded her arms.

Clark smiled. "She looks so pretty when she does that." He thought.

"Alright, I'll give it until tomorrow morning," he gave in.

Chloe smiled, and then her gaze turned serious. "I don't mean to suddenly shift the subject, but I just wanted to tell you that I understand now why you didn't tell me about the…heat." Chloe said, a little uncomfortable.

Clark looked at her with surprise, not really having a reaction since he hadn't expected such a statement from her.

"That was why it happened to you in health class, wasn't it? I mean first the video, and the teacher was, well I'll admit, an attractive woman…" Chloe began.

Clark began to turn red.

"Couple that with certain thoughts of…I'm guessing…a certain brunette with the initials LL…" Chloe said, raising an eyebrow.

"You know what? I think the football game's on downstairs…" Clark said, trying to change the subject.

"Clark, it's ok. I'm not offended or weirded out or anything. I mean how could I be? It just happened to me!" Chloe comforted.

"Yeah, so what were _you_ thinking about?" Clark joked, getting back at her.

"Err…about that." Chloe began.

Clark smirked. "Now that you know my deepest darkest secrets it's only fair that I know yours."

"Well, the whole x-ray vision thing you promised to help me with but didn't, started happening again, only this time it wasn't skeletons, it was you guys, in nothing but boxers…and other variations…" Chloe said, very embarrassed.

Clark laughed aloud at 'other variations' comment.

"And, well, I kind of made the mistake of looking at you…" she admitted.

Clark looked coyly at her. "Why was it a mistake?"

This caused Chloe to blush even more at the implication.

Although, some sort of understanding had developed between the two, and at the same time, both leaned in for a kiss. Eventually it turned into a passionate one, and soon both teens ended up on the floor.

Clark looked at Chloe. He couldn't believe that he didn't notice how pretty she was before. Chloe almost melted as her hands traced Clark's well toned chest. In fact, she found it…really sexy. Almost too sexy even…

Immediately the heat began to build up behind her eyes again, and she stood up, pushing Clark away.

"Chloe? What's wrong?" Clark asked.

She turned to look at him and Clark could see the color of her eyes change.

He immediately ran to his closet and began throwing things around until he found what he was looking for: a large piece of metal. He had kept it near when he had first experienced heat vision, and it looked as though it would get plenty of use with Chloe around. He quickly tossed it to her and she looked at it just in time. She felt the waves of heat part from her eyes and saw the distortion of the air the heat caused before reaching the metal. It only lasted a few seconds this time, and she was left with a very hot slab of iron in her hands.

"Chloe give that to me quickly before you burn yourself!" Clark exclaimed. He didn't want to take the chance that Chloe wasn't invulnerable. But she was, and she held on to the slab as though it was only at room temperature.

Clark grabbed it and immediately used his breath to cool it down, and set it on the floor. After that his room had a nice layer of frost, icicles and a thin layer of snow covering both he and Chloe. As if things couldn't get worse, there was a knock on the door.

"Clark?" Jonathon asked. Not used to Clark having girls in his room, Jonathon barged in and was faced with two teens in somewhat states of undress, covered in snow, standing in a room of icicles and frost. Clark's shirt and pant button was completely undone, Chloe's shirt was halfway up her chest, Clark's face was plastered with lipstick, and both had hairdos worthy of the punk movement. Jonathon, normally the one to scold, was for once, speechless. "Do I want to know?" he managed.

"Probably not." Both Chloe and Clark said in unison.

Then Jonathon remembered the reason he had come upstairs. "Martha made a snack for you…" he began, but Gabe appeared behind him with fruit salad Martha had made, and upon witnessing the scene, almost dropped it.

Chloe gulped. "Hi Daddy…" she said innocently.

**At Lex's…**

Whitney and Lex sat in Lex's office.

"Lex, there's something I want to ask you." Whitney began. "What exactly has happened since I left? I mean, Lana and Chloe are both staying at Clark's, and Nell is gone."

"Would you like the short version or the long one?" Lex asked.

"Short I guess."

"Well, Nell decided that she was moving, and Lana didn't want to go so she moved in with the Sullivans. Chloe's father lost his job and since has been looking for work. Clark offered both a place at his house for an affordable rent, and Lana decided to move in too."

Whitney looked ponderous. "I assume that a lot of other things happened besides that."

"Well, you said that you wanted the short version." Lex said.

"What about Lana and Clark?"

"They became closer and were together for a few days before Clark ran away to Metropolis for the summer. According to Clark they've been attempting to be friends since then."

"Why did he run away?" Whitney inquired.

"That's one of the great mysteries of Clark Kent. You'll have to ask him. I don't have an answer for you." Lex told him.

"Isn't he with Chloe now? They seem very close."

Lex nodded. "Whitney, I don't mean to change the subject but shouldn't you inform your parents that you're alive?" he asked bluntly.

Whitney gulped. Guiltily he realized that the thought hadn't even crossed his mind.

"How am I going to explain this to them?" Whitney asked.

"What, the fact that you survived a bomb, that you were in a coma, or that you were in a lab and are now some sort of superhuman?"

"All of that!" Whitney exclaimed. "I mean, what if they freak out? And I can't exactly tell them about Clark."

"I'll set it up and we'll do it discretely." Lex offered. "I'll send someone to tell them that their son is alive and we'll arrange a meeting place and go from there. As for whether they freak out, we'll just have to worry about that when it happens."

Whitney nodded. "Thanks. You know, I never thought that we'd be getting along, Luthor." He said.

"You know, Whitney, you can call me Lex."

"Sorry. I guess I'm just used to being hostile when it comes to Luthors."

Lex nodded. "I'm not my father, Whitney, nor will I ever be."

Whitney acknowledged the comment. "I think I'm going to go out for a run, to clear my head." He said.

"I'll see you in a while then." Lex said and tossed something to Whitney, "Oh and you might need this key to get back in."

Whitney caught it "Yeah. Thanks for helping me out, Lex." he said, and speeded out of the mansion.

**In Lionel's laboratory…**

Lana sat up from the table she had been laying on. The scientists around her began to rush around in mad panic.

"The subject's awake! Quick, get the piece of meteorite!" she heard one scientist say.

Lana punched through the glass surrounding her with her fist. Immediately afterward she looked down at her manicured hand. There was no blood. The scientists around her were frantic. Some tried to stop her by swinging any sort of hard object at her. The objects shattered upon impact. Then she saw one of the lab technicians coming with the piece of meteorite that she had learned to dread, and she began to panic. Something told her to touch the floor, so she knelt down and pressed both hands to the tiled surface. Immediately she felt the flow of heat through her body and saw the heat travel along the floor and scorch everything and everyone in sight. She stopped when they had all fallen over. Lana walked over to the computer terminal, and saw her vital signs on screen. To the side it said, "Subject fell unconscious after injection of green liquid. Predicted to regain consciousness in two hours. This is the second treatment with both the blood and the serum."

Lana noticed a link at the bottom and clicked it. She read, "Subject #2: Lana Lang. Noticeable effects: Subject has exhibited great strength, speed and resistance to hurt. Also exhibits a weakness to the green meteors and is affected by the red."

Lana gasped, but noted that there was no mention of her heat trick. She cursed herself for ever getting involved in Clark's life. Maybe then she wouldn't have been in this situation.

She walked over to the metal doors and began to pull them apart. An alarm blared just as she opened them far enough to squeeze through. She heard voices blare over the intercom. "Code Red! Code Red! Subject has escaped! Capture and sedate the subject!"

Not waiting around she quickly used her newfound speed and zipped through the hallway to the next room. It looked like chamber of holding cells. Lana shivered, wondering how many souls had been imprisoned and died there against their will. She turned and the blinking red light on the wall reminded her that she had to hurry. The room with the containment cells was a dead end, so she headed back into the hallway.

Lana scoured the area for an exit. "Nothing!" she exclaimed. "Not even a lousy door."

Frustrated she tossed her head back. Upon doing so she noticed a vent near the top of the wall. She stood looking at it for half a second before thinking of a way to get up that high. Lana walked over the wall and kicked her foot hard against it. A foot shape dent appeared. She did the same with her hands and eventually the wall was full of hand and foot shaped holes. Congratulating herself at her intelligence she began to climb up the wall using the dents, and not a moment too soon. A team of men had entered the hallway, and they had kryptonite, she noted. She wrenched the vent cover off of the wall, and luckily she was small enough to fit.

But she heard the men talking as she squirmed down the vent, and the subject of their conversation was not good. She heard one say to use the meteor gas.

"Meteor gas?" she thought. "Crap, I better hurry."

She frantically scrambled through the vent until she came to a split. One way headed straight up, but the other went straight ahead and opened up into the sky. She squirmed toward the opening. When she reached the outside she found another dilemma: she was high up off the ground and there was no ledge to cling to.

"Oh no!" Lana exclaimed. It echoed throughout the ventilation system. She heard a hiss behind her and realized that they had begun to gas the vents.

"Gas…jump…gas…jump…" Lana thought, frantically looking forward and behind her. "I guess it's really no choice."

She hurtled herself out of the vent, hoping that her newfound ability of invulnerability kicked in when she hit the ground, because if it didn't, this wasn't going to be pretty.

Lana felt herself falling, the wind cutting at her as she dropped. She closed her eyes, not wanting to witness her crash to the ground. For a minute though, she felt at ease, safe, like she would never hit. It was like she was drifting. She opened her eyes and noticed that she was six feet above the ground, floating. This freaked her out, and she panicked and fell, landing on her butt.

"Well I guess it's better than breaking my spine." She thought, as she stood up. Noticing the red light still flashing on the outside of the facility, Lana zoomed away before anyone could find her.

One thought crossed her mind as she was cutting through Smallville's fields: how could she control all of her newly possessed abilities so quickly? She began to wonder if she had been programmed.

**Back at the lab…**

Dr. Vera pressed the communication button on the intercom. Lionel's face appeared on the other side.

"She's escaped, sir." Vera regrettably reported. "And before we had a chance to do tests on her, I'm afraid."

"What?" Lionel said sharply. "Has the device been planted?"

"Yes, but it's only partially functional. We were going to finish tuning it today." Vera reported.

"Change back to code blue, Vera, and bring the controlling device to me."

"I'd have to advice against that Mr. Luthor. The subject is very dangerous and we aren't sure of everything she is capable of. The implant may not even work."

"Vera…" Lionel warned. "If I wanted your opinion, I'd ask for it. Bring the device to me. I'll expect you in an hour, do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Luthor," Vera responded. "I'll leave ASAP."

With that, she pressed the button on the intercom, and against her better judgment she headed to package the controlling device.

A/N: Well, lots of cliffies this time. I decided to leave Ch19 as is and just write 20. Don't forget that a lot of the story is rewritten, so if something's not clear, you may want to backtrack a little. And you definitely should reread Chapters 10-12 again. ;)


	21. Relationships

Well, it's the long awaited Chapter 21! Yes, it's finally here. Blushes, ashamed. Alright so it's been a long (almost) two months and I'm sure that you are all very sick of waiting. So my only explanation for you is college exams and job hunting. Now that that's taken care of I hope to update sooner. I'm going to try and update every week and a half, but that could be earlier or later, depending on my work schedule. Thanks to all of you for sticking around so long! Now, the story awaits you!

**Chapter 21**

Lana rushed through the fields, not even sure where she was headed, just knowing that she was glad as heck to be away from that laboratory. As fate would have it though, she ended up in the same graveyard where she and Clark had begun their friendship. She walked over to her parents' graves, not forlornly, but contemplative, unlike before. Kneeling down she ran her fingers in the grooves of her mother's name on the gravestone.

"Out of all the things I've been through, all of the trials I've faced, I never thought it would come down to this." She said aloud.

"It's hard, isn't it?" offered a voice. "It never lets up."

Lana quickly turned around to face Whitney. As if to coincide with their moods, rain began to pour down, and Lana looked up to see the stars were not visible tonight.

Lana stood from her kneeling position and both teenagers caught each other's gaze for a moment. Lana, out of guilt, turned her head and looked away.

"They…did…something to me." Lana said.

"Who? Lana, I thought you were at the Kent farm all evening."

"I…I was almost there, but I was kidnapped by someone who was really strong and really fast. I woke up in a lab…" she continued, tears beginning to find their way down her face.

"What did they do? Did they hurt you?" Whitney asked with concern.

"They did…something to me. I can do some of the things Clark can." Lana admitted.

Whitney looked at Lana, compassion filling his eyes. He walked over and put a supportive arm around her shoulder.

"And that's not all…" she said. "I…I just instinctively knew how to…I…"

Whitney put his finger to her lips, silencing her. For once in a long time, Lana felt at ease, safe, loved.

"Shh, it's okay now. You're out. They can't hurt you anymore."

"But…" she began to protest.

"Shh." he whispered, as he wisped back a lock of her now wet, raven hair.

"Whitney…I…" Lana began, but was enticed by his compassionate eyes, the warm gaze that had drawn her to him so long ago.

"It's ok. It's all over now." Whitney comforted. The two gazed into each other's eyes again, and slowly leaned in for a kiss.

Lana relaxed completely, lost in the ecstasy – ecstasy that had been buried and forgotten long ago. Whitney had always been such a good kisser, even more so now. And he understood. He understood what had happened – how she'd been violated. Suddenly her gut began to knot and a feeling of unease swept over her. Someone else entered her thoughts – someone else who she loved dearly – Pete. Lana's eyes widened and she softly pulled away.

"Whitney I can't do this. I'm…confused." She stated breathlessly.

Whitney's expression dropped, and the hurt in his voice was evident, but he respected Lana's decision.

"I guess you want to get home." He said, not knowing where else to direct the conversation.

"Yeah." Lana agreed.

"Can we…?"

"I won't say anything." Whitney promised, and noticing her shivering figure, gallantly took off his jean jacket and draped it around her trembling shoulders.

"I kind of…ran here." Whitney admitted.

Lana gave a half smile. "Well I guess a little run to the Kent farm would do me well." She said, taking Whitney's hand in her own. Then both teens disappeared into the darkness of the evening, in the direction of a bright yellow farmhouse.

* * *

Clark and Chloe were in one hell of a mess. Not only Jonathon but now Gabe was staring at the two of them – hard. Actually more like giving the death stare. It turned out that Chloe's mellow father had a temper when he was angry, and he was angry.

Gabe had always dreaded this day – the day he had to have _that_ talk with Chloe. It was something he had dreaded ever since her mother left. It turned out that he should've had that talk earlier than he had thought.

Jonathon wore the same serious expression while looking at Clark. A cross between an "I'm very disappointed," look and a "You're in trouble," look.

Gabe, even after knowing Clark's secret for a little while now, still was a little uncomfortable with the fact that not only did he catch his daughter in a heated moment, but that he had caught her in a heated moment with a boy from another planet. Once that thought was in his head he tried to dismiss it, but it still stayed there eating away at him.

Jonathon was the first to speak. "Get your clothes on _properly _and come downstairs. It's evident that we all need to have a little talk." He said, the implications of the situation kicking in.

Gabe, as angry as he was, couldn't think of anything to add, so the two men turned and stomped downstairs.

Five minutes later, a cleaned up and very embarrassed Clark and Chloe trotted downstairs where they faced the serious faces of not only Jonathon and Gabe, but now Martha as well. They sat at the table, their red faces going unnoticed by the unhappy adults about to give them a lecture of a lifetime.

Jonathon was the first to clear his throat, and speak.

"First of all, I want to know how the room looked like a blizzard hit it." Jonathon stated.

"Well, um…" Clark began, looking at Chloe. "Chloe kind of…"

"Almost set Clark's room aflame." Chloe said, blushing. "And Clark decided to…um…cool it down a little."

"And how…exactly did you almost set Clark's room on fire, young lady?" Gabe asked.

Martha and Jonathon shared a glance. They knew why and how, and hadn't exactly been generous with Gabe on the details. Jonathon figured it best to get on with the rest of the lecture and leave that to be explained to Gabe last.

"Let's just leave that for a while later." Jonathon said, giving Gabe a look to let him know it would be explained.

Next, Jonathon proceeded to launch into the 'you're still teenagers and you don't want to ruin your futures' speech that all parents are so famous for. It was when Jonathon began to get detailed that Clark decided to put a stop to it.

"Look, we're parents, we've been your age before and we know that there's a certain…attraction between you…" Jonathon continued, "But don't think that just because you're living in this house together that you get any 'special privileges' other than you would normally have concerning sleeping arrangements and certain other..."

"Dad!" Clark protested. "That's enough! Chloe and I are _not_ sleeping together!"

All three adults breathed a sigh of relief.

Gabe looked at Chloe. "Actually I think Chloe and I should speak alone." He said.

Chloe looked down but gave no protest and followed her dad into the family room.

Clark was left to stare at his parents after their blatantly awkward comment.

"Clark, we're not trying to embarrass you." Martha said. "We just want you to make the right decision, and you have your whole future ahead of you. We don't want something to happen that could put that in jeopardy."

Clark looked bitterly at the wooden table.

"Mom, I don't even know if I _can_ 'be with' someone else." He spat. "I don't even know if I can have kids!"

Well that was a situation that Martha and Jonathon were well accustomed to, being that they couldn't have kids themselves, and Jonathon put a hand on Clark's.

Clark, a little spiteful, pulled back.

"Anyway, Chloe and I, we never did anything." Clark admitted, aggravated. "We hadn't planned on doing anything. If you really want to know, we kissed and that's it."

"We know, sweetie, and we trust you to make the right decision." Martha comforted.

Clark ran his fingers through his hair. "So, am I free to go now?"

Jonathon and Martha gave Clark a knowing look and then nodded.

Clark stood up and headed for the door. "Tell Chloe I'm in the loft." He said quietly.

Meanwhile, in the family room, Gabe was expressing his concerns to Chloe, and Chloe was most definitely expressing her own.

"Dad, we didn't _do_ anything! I know it looked that way but nothing like that happened. We just…I don't know, experienced a moment of bonding between us. I mean, I know it freaks you out a little that I have powers like Clark's now but I can really understand him a lot better, and I guess that it kind of showed tonight."

Gabe sighed, and rubbed his fingers over his eyes.

"Chloe, I'll admit, yes it does unsettle me a little that you can do all these things now. And it is hard to deal with the fact that the boy you love so much is…from outer space…but…"

"But what Dad? You're just like everyone else, judging him! I don't care where he's from!"

"Chloe, that's not what I said…"

"Yes it is! That's the reason you're worried about me being with Clark, isn't it? It's just because he and I don't share a few chromosomes." Chloe practically snarled.

Gabe was beginning to get riled up now. Chloe was getting out of hand. "Young lady, you have more than just a _few_ different chromosomes! And I just want you to make responsible decisions! I don't want you to end up on your own with a child, Chloe. You have so much opportunity in your future, and you don't need something like a child to hold you back."

"Well, Dad, then you should trust me." Chloe fumed. "And you obviously don't. Those decisions, as you said, are mine to make, and it's my own business if I want to share a moment like that with my boyfriend. And did you ever think, once you finish the 'your boyfriend's an alien' rant, that maybe Clark might have feelings about all of this? It's not like he asked to be who he is! What I know is that being with Clark is something I've waited a long time for, and I refuse to let anyone ruin it for me."

Gabe began to feel frustrated but also slightly guilty. Maybe he had been judging Clark a little, in more ways than one. And he hadn't meant to offend his daughter. Maybe that was why he let her storm out without stopping her. It was difficult being a parent.

He walked back out into the kitchen with a half-defeated look on his face.

"Teenagers." He said, and then took a second to recover from Chloe's blowout. After a few seconds he asked the burning question, "So…how about explaining how my daughter almost set your house on fire?"

* * *

Out in the loft, Chloe and Clark brooded over their lecture while also comforting each other. They sat on the couch, snuggling for the longest time.

"I get so angry at my dad." Chloe said.

"I know. I kind of heard." Clark said.

"Yeah…I keep forgetting." Chloe admitted.

"Thanks for sticking up for me." Clark said, trying to add light to the situation. "Although, I can somewhat understand your dad's point of view. I mean, what I am freaks me out too sometimes."

Chloe ran her hand down Clark's cheek and slowly brought his face in front of hers. "You have never ever freaked me out Clark. I love you, and I accept you, and I always will."

Clark grinned, and they began to kiss.

But as per normal, the peace didn't last long. The crunch of the gravel as someone walked up the driveway fell on Clark's enhanced ears. His head darted up.

"What is it?" Chloe asked.

"Who would be outside at this hour?" Clark pondered aloud, and immediately headed down the steps and outside. Chloe quickly followed, determined that she would get her kiss no matter what.

Clark stood in the doorway, squinting to scan the area for intruders, when Chloe attempted to tackle him to the ground. Her tactic worked, although not as planned, since Clark turned around a second too soon, and both landed in the dirt, which was now wet from the rain.

"Looks like we'll have to change again." Clark said.

Chloe raised her eyebrow. "In the same room?" She teased.

Clark just grinned.

"You two having fun?" came a giggling voice from behind them.

Clark, now lying in the dirt, looked up to see an upside down Lana Lang standing next to Whitney, laughing.

Chloe let him up, straightening her hair, and Clark stood up and brushed himself off. Well, as much as mud could be brushed off anyway.

"Lana, what happened?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, I was starting to wonder whether you were abducted by…" she said absentmindedly.

Clark gave her an uncomfortable look.

"Abducted by…little cute bunnies wearing pink frills?" Chloe jokingly finished, realizing she had come a little too close to seriously offending Clark, especially after their earlier conversation.

Lana just burst into laughter, and Whitney cracked a smile.

"I'm…sorry, Clark." Chloe said.

Clark just gave her a small smile to show that she hadn't put her foot in her mouth too badly.

"I'd rather not talk about what happened right now." Lana said. "I'm a little shocked myself. Whitney found me at the graveyard and brought me home."

"Anyway, I'd better run." Whitney said. "It's getting late."

He winked at Lana who caught the gesture and winked back. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Lana. See you guys tomorrow." Whitney said, as he faded into a blur, heading toward Lex's mansion.

"I guess we should head inside and tell Mom and Dad the great news." Clark said.

Lana forced a smile. "Yes, that's a good idea."

With that, the three headed down the driveway to tell the Kent-Sullivan family the good news.

Next: The full extent of Lana's treatment is revealed, as well as Lionel's plans for her. Will Operation Lionel still be a success? And what about the beings that now inhabit the bodies of Clark's family and friends? All to come ;)


	22. Let The Games Begin

Thanks to Comets, cb urk, Super-hero fan, TerraTasha and everyone else who has reviewed. I would like to bring to everyone's attention that Comets asked a very good question in their review – Where do I go from here? I have, in fact, been asking myself the very same question for a while now. I was worried the story was going completely downhill.

Having so much going on makes for difficulty when trying to connect the dots between plotlines, and that has slowed me down a lot. I don't plan to let everyone keep Clark's powers, for anyone who is wondering, but I have a little bit I'd like to write before they are lost. But I want everyone to know that this story is open to suggestion. Anything you could think of to make it better, nothing is too 'out there'. Just no flames, please.

Anyway I have a direction to send this in and have done my 'connect the dots' page, lol, so hopefully my writer's block will have successfully passed. Again thanks for reviewing, and please don't give up. I _am_ going to finish this story. It won't be left hanging. And please, enjoy chapter 22.

_**Chapter 22**_

It was nearing ten when Vera walked up to the front desk in a very swanky but secure office building.

"I'm here to see Mr. Luthor." Vera said nervously.

"And you are?"

"Dr. Vera Deter, Head Scientist of Lab number 5." She said, holding out her identification card. The girl at the cash scanned it and acknowledged that the information was correct.

"You look a little flustered. Are you ok?" The secretary asked, handing the card back to Vera.

"Yes, I'm fine, I'll be fine. Thanks. Am I done here?" Vera responded quickly, holding the package tighter to her side.

"Yes, go on up. Mr. Luthor's been expecting you."

"I'll just bet he has." Vera said under her breath, and walked to the elevator.

The trip up was the longest Vera could remember having. But that was because she was having her doubts. She took off her glasses and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. She had been having her doubts since she started performing experiments on two young teens both of which who undoubtedly had their entire lives ahead of them. Oh it had been so easy years ago.

"Yes, it was easy then." Vera said as she replaced her glasses.

Five years ago she had graduated at the top of her class from Metropolis University with a degree in BioChem, and four years of med school specializing in research. She had been ready and eager to get a job to help pay those hefty student loans she had acquired. Of course, Lionel's offer had been most generous and interesting – to work in a lab studying effects of an alien rock on different types of organisms. What a fool she had been. As the years passed Lionel had become more demanding, wanting tests to progress to humans, something she knew was dangerous. He was desperate to cure himself of a rare liver disease and was sure the rock could help him – the rock _and_ the blood he had somehow acquired of a young Kansas boy: Clark Kent. She pitied the poor boy if Lionel ever got his hands on him. Lionel had insisted they experiment on a young army man who was now MIA. She had initially tried to get away from that, but Lionel's hold was too strong. Now her loans had been paid off, and Lionel had threatened her life. She had no choice. She looked reluctantly at the box in her hands. In it was a control device – for the implant in Lana's brain. Well, that's what Lionel understood. She hadn't actually implanted anything _in_ Lana's brain, as she still had some morals and ethics left. But Lionel had wanted something, so instead had put a well hidden device on the back of Lana's head, where it would serve the same function, though not nearly as effective. In fact, it could give out at any time. But that was her last protest for what she believed in. It took all she had to keep from bursting into tears. She could barely believe what she had done to an innocent, young girl.

A ding rang out signifying she was at her designated floor. She let out a dismal sigh at what her life had become and walked into Lionel's office.

"I see you brought my package." Lionel said.

"Yes, I did. And may I warn you of the effects this will have on that poor girl." Vera tried.

"Dr. Vera." Lionel said menacingly. "You may leave now. I will be in contact if I need your services again."

Vera looked sadly at the blue-black carpet in the office and nodded her head. She walked out, and the doors to the elevator closed. It was then Vera made a vow that she would find Clark and Lana and warn them. Then maybe she could die from Lionel's wrath with some self-respect.

Lionel stared at the door. He had noticed Vera getting a little reluctant and doubtful in the past few weeks. Her compliance was wavering, and she constantly questioned his every move. She was beginning to become a liability. Lionel picked up his office phone and punched a number.

"Yeah?" Someone answered.

"Dr. Vera has outlived her usefulness. I want her _disposed of_."

"Yes sir." A voice replied.

"Good. Do be discreet. I don't wish to have the police or my son meddling in my affairs." Lionel responded, and then hung up.

* * *

In the Kent household everyone was doting on Lana; all except Gabe, who had gone to bed. Lana was getting a little annoyed with all of the attention. She hadn't told anyone exactly what happened yet. She hadn't really told them anything except what happened as she was kidnapped. She wasn't ready, yet.

"I'm a little…tired, so I think I'm going to head to bed." Lana told the family and began to walk upstairs.

Clark shrugged to Chloe, and supposed that they should all get some rest.

* * *

That night…

Lionel opened the box with the remote, examining it closely to prove to himself its functionality. Everything was clearly labeled. Lionel sat back. He had to admit, as much of a liability as Dr. Vera Deter was she was also very clear and concise and did wonderful work. But that was that. He'd had no choice but to get rid of her. There would always be another looking to pay off their loans, who he could exploit.

Of course, the remote was a very complicated object, although simple looking; it had to be plugged into a secure computer and into a special section of Luthorcorp's intranet. Lionel realized this, and as a precaution, had given most of the staff, with the exception of security, the night off. Lionel logged in and hooked the object into the conveniently located USB port on his office laptop. It began to beep and a red light came on in the remote, quickly shifting to green as the computer verified the user. Lionel rubbed his chin. His plans had gone awry with Whitney, "Thanks to my damn fool of a son." Lionel thought angrily. This time he'd be more careful. Yes, this plan would be much, much better.

* * *

Lana felt herself sit up in bed. It was near dawn and she had the urge to get up and do something. What, she didn't know, but the urge to get out of bed and get dressed was overwhelming. Giving in, she dressed and walked into the kitchen, wondering if she was just hungry. A sudden pain coming from her temples overwhelmed her, and she felt her consciousness retreat into the far reaches of her mind. She felt herself zip out of the house, not closing the door, out into the chilly night. Not knowing where she was going, and not in control of her own body, Lana headed into town.

* * *

Clark woke up the next day to a shrill ringing in his ears. He wondered if anyone else had heard it now, but it didn't seem so.

He checked around to see if anyone else had stirred, but noticed the house remained quiet. Flabbergasted, he shrugged off the thought, dressing and walking out to the barn where the key was. But when he opened the toolbox he faced the surprise of his life. The key was present, but it wasn't the source.

"Well then, what…" he trailed off.

Listening closer he noticed the shrill noise was coming from the storm cellar.

"But that's impossible!" he thought, although he headed in that direction. With each step the noise increased, and Clark wondered how long his eardrums could last before they burst. Somehow managing to walk inside Clark looked ahead, and his jaw dropped. There stood the ship, in its full glory, floating and shining white. The key floated out of Clark's hand and fit into the recess, and Clark wondered exactly what would happen. He got his answer. The light intensified, creating a small explosion that knocked him clear out of the storm cellar and sending itself in waves throughout the farm while Clark looked on.

* * *

Chloe ran through the forest at a normal pace. She continued to try and turn on her newfound speed but it wouldn't work. Someone or something was chasing her, and she'd never felt more scared in her life. Branches cracked and leaves crunched as she ran through bushes and avoided trees. She looked back – the shadow was getting closer. She tried to run faster but her legs were like jelly, so much so that when a root jutted out, she went flying face down into the dirt. Hurt, and scared, Chloe sat up and looked into the face of her attacker, who had finally reached her. A bright white light shone behind the girl and Chloe was almost blinded.

"Who are you?" Chloe mumbled.

The girl smiled an evil smile and took Chloe by the collar. "You are not worthy of Kal-el." She said, and threw Chloe into a tree.

Chloe sat up in bed, turning around frantically. It was a dream. She felt something burning on her arm and turned to look. Her scar shone a brilliant red and then stopped. Chloe stood up and walked over to her mirror. Her hair had grown longer.

"What's happening to me?" she wondered. "And who was that?"

* * *

Lana stood in front of the Luthor ancestral mansion. She had looked all over town for Whitney and this seemed like the most logical place to find him, especially since she had last seen him here.

She didn't bother to buzz, and walked on inside, tossing guards as they rushed at her. When she reached Lex's office doors she kicked them in, sending them almost all the way to Lex's desk. A shocked Lex sat, frozen in amazement and fear, although he'd never admit the latter.

"Lana?" He managed.

"Where is Whitney? I know you're keeping him here!" Lana exclaimed.

"Calm down, Lana. He's here, but he's asleep. He came in late last night."

"Oh I know all about it. Get him up now and tell him to get down here!" Lana said aggressively. "Or I'll tear the place apart looking for him."

"Lana…I don't know what happened, but I'm sure we can resolve this in a civil manner." Lex tried.

Lana responded by slamming her fist down and breaking a chunk off of Lex's desk.

"_Don't_ give me your bullshit, Lex. I know you better than that."

Now Lex was really concerned. Lana wasn't herself at all.

Suddenly Whitney appeared in the doorway. "Lana? What's all the noise about? And how did you know I was staying here?"

The Lana Whitney saw when she turned around was completely unfamiliar.

"Is that you? Lana, what happened?"

She walked up and grabbed Whitney by the wrist. "You're coming with me." she ordered.

"I'm…what?"

Lana grabbed his wrist tighter. Whitney noticed a green glare in her eyes.

"I'm stronger than you Mr. Fordman, so I _suggest_ you listen."

"Mister…Fordman…?" Whitney reiterated.

Lex quickly took out the red rock in his pocket.

"Sorry Whitney." He apologized.

Whitney began to wince but Lana stood perfectly erect. Her eyes went red.

Lex looked at the red rock in his hand and then at Lana.

"Bad mistake, Lex. Just like the one you made in the lab." Lana said, as she let go of Whitney, zipped over to Lex, and grabbed him by the neck, choking him. She quickly slammed his head down on the desk.

"This is what you get for crossing me. Now I'll be taking what's mine and leaving."

Lex looked into Lana's eyes for a second before passing out, and realized something – Lana sounded a lot like…his father.

* * *

Lionel sat back in his chair. Everything had gone according to plan. Soon Whitney would be his to study again – just like before Lex interfered. The remote for the device in Lana's head had worked beautifully. Lana had done everything he had told her to, and said exactly what he had wanted her to say. Now he would have both of his specimens back in a matter of minutes. Not only that, if Lex picked up on the hint, the other part of his plan could be put into action.

**Next:** Will Lionel's plans turn to tatters? Will Vera get to Clark and Lana? What's happening to Chloe?


	23. Savior

**Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Also thanks to Terratasha, and Callisto, for reviewing chapter 22. I hope you're all enjoying the story. There's much more to come. And I hope you like this chapter. It's a little more fast paced than the last two. :) Enjoy. I'll be back soon with Chapter 24**

**Chapter 23**

Clark could only sit and watch as the wave engulfed his house. What surprised him though was that it didn't decimate everything it touched, just passed through it. Once the initial shock and amazement was passed, Clark immediately jumped up and super sped to his house. Led by extreme concern Clark rushed into the kitchen and up the stairs, heading first to his parents' room, which was…empty.

"Mom? Dad?" he called out.

"Clark?" Chloe called out from the attic. She walked down, attired in her pajamas. "Where's Lana?"

"Where're Mom and Dad?" Clark asked.

Both shrugged to each other.

"Chloe, your hair is longer." Clark stated, in confusion.

"I…um…" Chloe stammered, trying to think of a way to explain it. "I had a nightmare and woke up like this. Why are you up already?"

"I…heard something." Clark said hesitantly. "I went out to check."

"What was it?"

Clark lifted his eyes to meet Chloe's. She took this to mean it was important.

"What was it?" she repeated, trying to coax him into saying.

"But it's impossible…" Clark murmured, turning away from Chloe and beginning to walk downstairs.

"What's impossible? Clark, get back here! You're not leaving until you tell me what's got you so worked up!" Chloe exclaimed.

Clark turned. "I thought it was the key, but it wasn't…and the noise was coming from the storm cellar."

"And?" Chloe asked, not recognizing the significance of the storm cellar.

Clark swallowed. He hadn't discussed this with Chloe. He'd slightly mentioned the spaceship to her a few times but otherwise she hadn't known much about it.

"Chloe, the spaceship…" Clark said, swallowing again. "It was destroyed…by me, in an attempt to stop Jor-el from controlling me."

Chloe looked at him in shock, wondering the relevance of this new revelation, and making a note to give Clark some serious TLC later on.

"The ship's back." Clark said. "It was calling out, and it snatched the key away from me, sending a huge wave this way. The same thing that happened before…"

"…before you ran away." Chloe finished. She quickly ran up, changed, and pinned her new hair up. "Ok let's go."

"Where?"

Chloe gave him a look. "We're going to look for your parents. This place is too silent, there's definitely something up. And not only that, Lana has pulled another disappearing act."

"Yeah she pulls a lot of those lately."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Chloe said urgently, poking Clark in the shoulder as she passed, and grabbing his arm to haul him down the stairs and out the door.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lana was dragging Whitney to a lab somewhere. 

Somehow, for some reason, Lana was stronger than Whitney. He couldn't even break free from her grip. It was embarrassing, really. And not only that, she had Whitney thrown over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Whitney had given up trying to get away long ago. He had also given up trying to talk to Lana. It was evident she wasn't herself. Every time he would ask a question she would give him a blank stare and a warning not to struggle. He had asked her once or twice where they were going but she just looked blankly at him again, and remained silent.

They came upon a complex that Whitney recognized very well. It was the one he had broken out of not too long ago. It caused a myriad of emotions to flow through him: among them fear, hatred, anger and worry.

One thing went through his head as he noticed the giant fortress was, "I won't be taken in again, away from everyone and everything I care about."

In one final effort, he tried to break away again. This time Lana wavered and he fell to the ground. But as fast as he was, Lana was faster, and before he could run away, Lana had yanked him next to her. He was faced with those cursed eyes again: those emotionless voids now there instead of Lana's normal, alluring brown eyes.

He sighed and bowed to his fate…for now.

Some of the scientists were delighted to see not one, but both of their specimens back. Others were, well not so happy, especially now that they would have the lives of two young teenagers on their conscience. Whitney noticed one scientist – the one he'd often seen monitoring his vitals, a woman in her early thirties – quickly and discreetly packing her things.

"Deter! Dr. Deter! A young man in a lab coat called out."

The woman looked up. "What is it Cory? I'm headed out."

"The two specimens just came back."

Vera blinked and cursed the day she ever made that mind control device for Lionel. She constantly wished her knowledge in neurology wouldn't be used that way, but it had been exploited. She felt like trash.

Vera began to nod when her eyes focused on the girl standing in front of her: Lana Lang. It was Lana she was headed out to search for. She nearly dropped her purse.

"Alright, put them in containment cells and leave them to me." Vera said authoritatively.

Cory nodded and carried out her request.

A miserable Whitney was the first to be thrown in the cells at the end of the laboratory. He was closed in by plexiglass, designed with many small holes for communicating. He figured he could easily break the glass, but he didn't see a point. He knew they had oodles of red meteor rock on them and wouldn't hesitate to use it. He sighed, and began to scan the room for exits.

A vacant Lana Lang easily complied with the instructions to enter a cell, but once inside, the old Lana began to resurface.

"What? What am I doing here? I was at the Kent's and…and…oh my gosh! I can't remember!"

"Let me refresh your memory, Lana. You came over to Lex's mansion, and dragged me here." Whitney said, offended that Lana was being patronizing toward him.

"No, Whitney, I honestly don't know!" Lana exclaimed.

But Whitney wasn't listening to her. He was more intent on listening to something in the hallway.

"Whitney?"

"Shh."

When he stopped he looked at Lana gravely. "I'm sorry." He said.

"For what?"

"Not believing you."

Lana looked at him oddly. "What did you hear just then?" she asked, now realizing what the expression on his face had meant.

"Dr. Vera was talking to Lionel. He says he wants another mind controlling implant only this one he wants put in _my_ brain." Whitney said, his voice wavering a little.

"Another implant. That means I must already have one. Oh my god…Whitney, I've never been so scared in my life!"

Suddenly the lights in the cell block went off, surprising both its occupants. A door opened and light flooded in from the lab, casting a shadow on the shapely woman attired with a lab coat.

She closed the door with a bang and silently crept over to Lana's cell.

"Lana Lang, I am Dr. Vera Deter. I know you are afraid and most likely not pleased to meet me, but that will be have to be put aside for now, as you and this young man are in grave danger. First things first though. Turn around, Lana."

Lana complied and Vera gripped the small chip-like device on Lana's head with her thumb and forefinger.

"What are you doing?" Lana asked.

"I'm temporarily deactivating the mind control device that Lionel had me attach to your brain stem."

"My brain stem?" Lana asked, a little perturbed.

"Precisely. Consider yourself a little lucky though. Lionel originally wanted me to implant it in your frontal lobe. You probably would've died had I listened."

"Why don't you just unhook it then?"

"Impossible. I would need at least an hour to ensure that nothing was damaged as I unhooked it. You see, it's actually wired into your brainstem. I'd rather be thorough when I disconnect it. There, deactivated, at least for…" Vera said. She looked at her watch. "At least for…twenty minutes anyway."

By now, Lana was petrified. She had barely understood what Vera had said, save for what she had learned in Biology class at school, but what she did understand scared the hell out of her. Not only that, but something occurred to her.

"Why are you helping us?" Lana asked again.

"Because not everyone's morals can be oppressed with money." Vera said, as she quickly unlocked the two glass doors. "Now, go, quickly. I've disabled the computer's security systems and my assistant is on his break now, so you can get out easily. I'll catch up in a minute. Head out of here, go right down a hallway; then take a left and another left. I'll meet you at the locked door with the blinking blue light. Ok?"

"Gotcha." Lana agreed, while Whitney simply nodded. He believed it a little too easy to be true.

A few minutes later, Vera showed up with a key card for the locked door.

"Now, I'll need the two of you to burn out the security cameras as we leave. Think you can handle it?"

The two teens nodded just as Vera opened the door. Whitney used heat vision to burn them out and Lana shot fire from her fingers. Eventually, all the cameras were officially deceased and the group was outside.

Vera pointed to a green Chevy outside and they ran toward it. Once inside, Whitney found his voice again.

"I heard you tell Lionel you were going to put one of those devices in _my_ head." Whitney said. "How do we know you're not in on all this? You might be taking us right to the devil himself!"

Vera laid her key card in the front seat and started up her truck.

"I know you may be skeptical, but you must trust me. What Lionel is doing is illegal and I no longer want any part in it. And if I can, I'm going to try and bring Lionel down…even if I go down with him in the process. Now I have a question for you two. Where does…Clark Kent live?"

* * *

Lex stood up in his office, his head spinning. Luckily he had no concussion, or memory loss, just a good ol' bump where Lana had slammed his head down. There was one thing he was sure of though – that hadn't been Lana's doing…it had to have been his father's doing. Nothing else explained Lana's actions. He would have to _talk_ with his father today. He groaned. He'd talk with his father after the mess was cleaned up, that is. He quickly spun around and punched in Clark's number on his office phone – Lana had crushed his cell when she had thrown him down. However, he got no answer. Agitated, at letting his father get the upper hand, Lex threw down the phone, grabbed his jacket and headed out to his new Porsche to drive to Clark's house.

* * *

Meanwhile, Clark and Chloe had searched every inch of the farm, (and I _do_ mean every inch), and they could find nothing. 

"I'm calling Pete, he can help us look around." Clark said.

Just as he headed into the house, the phone rang.

"Clark, man, you gotta see this. Get to the caves – fast." Pete said before hanging up.

"Well there's only one way I know fast." Chloe said.

"Your beetle?" Clark asked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "I'd call it the Clark Express but I think that would be a little biased now."

"How about the Chloe Express?" Clark joked.

Chloe gave a weird look. "How about not. Sounds like I get around."

Clark smirked.

"Enough about this. Shut up and let's go." Chloe said.

With that, the two teens ran to the caves, hand in hand of course. ;)

* * *

A green Chevy pulled up to the Kent farm in a hurry, spraying gravel everywhere. It came to a sudden halt, and two teens and a scientist stepped out. 

"He lives here?" Vera asked.

"What were you expecting, a playboy mansion?" Lana asked.

Vera gave Lana a dirty look. "We don't have time for this."

"Look, you check the house, I'll check the loft, and Whitney can check the fields. Sound good?" Lana said.

"Sounds fine." Whitney agreed.

Vera knocked on the door to the house, but received no answer. Slowly, she gave one final tap and pushed the door ajar.

"Clark? Clark Kent?" she yelled.

Walking in she noticed pictures, of which she assumed to be Clark and his family. This made her even more sympathetic toward him. Lionel was a monster, trying to take away this boy from his loving, caring family.

"Hello?" she tried again.

Vera cautiously walked up the stairs and into one of the rooms. Judging by the messiness, she assumed it was Clark's. She saw something sticking out from between the mattresses – a book that read: Clark's Journal. Vera turned to leave, although curious.

"I'm here to help the boy not go through his personal belongings." She said.

But something in her was curious. She wanted to know why Lionel was so interested in this boy. That being so, she crept over to the journal and wedged it out. Why she thought she'd find something in his journal she didn't know. Perhaps it was the fact that most journals held secrets. She cursed the scientist in her and sat down to look at it.

Lana, in the meantime, was having no luck in the loft. She turned around to his desk and noticed a picture. It was of him and Chloe, on homecoming night.

"Looks like Chloe didn't delete the pictures after all." Lana thought.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at the second picture that adorned Clark's desk. It was recent, taken with Chloe's digital camera. The two were standing in front of the yellow house that Clark called home. Both were smiling, and Chloe had her arms around Clark's belly and was laughing at him squirming. Lana picked the picture up, a little jealous, and sad at what she had lost. Although, a part of her was glad, since if she had been with Clark she wouldn't have discovered her feelings for Pete. She laid the picture down and took note that no pictures of herself remained. An open book lay undisturbed, with a pen next to many scribbles that said 'Chloe'. Lana took one last look around before she sighed and left.

Whitney was having even less luck, or so he thought. He finished running through the fields when something caught his eye – the storm cellar. It was open and cracked a little, as though something – or someone – was thrown out of it.

"I wonder…" he thought, and headed down. It was there he came face to face with…a space ship. It shined a golden hue which lit up Whitney's face and almost blinded him. He tried to shield the light, but wasn't very effective in his efforts.

The light began to engulf him, causing him a lot of pain, but after a few minutes, backed off, as if it rejected him.

The ship began to float and a voice came from it.

"Who are you? Speak now." It said.

Whitney, not knowing what exactly to do, answered.

"I'm…Whitney Fordman."

"Whitney…Fordman?" the voice replied. "This must not be your native name. Which house are you from?"

"House?" Whitney asked, nervous.

The light began to scan him again, but this time when it stopped and the voice emerged, it was angry.

"You have El blood." it stated.

"I…what?" Whitney asked.

"Your anatomy has been altered to mimic that of a Kryptonian, _Whit…ney._ You must already know this."

"No?" Whitney exclaimed. "What the hell is a Kryptonian anyway?"

Suddenly it clicked. Whitney remembered Clark saying something about Krypton blowing up and he was the last.

"Wait a minute…my anatomy…altered?" Whitney said, realized the implication.

"Your species has found a way to replicate the gene that gives a Kryptonian abilities under a yellow sun so that an earthling can experience the same power. You…do not know this?"

"No." Whitney said. "I was injected with Clark's blood…but…"

"Kal-el's blood. I see. Whoever did this to you must've exposed you to Kal-el's blood for an extended period of time, with some sort of…trigger, such that you started producing a mixture of your blood and his. You will help us then."

"I'll…what?" Whitney.

"I had you pegged as Kal-el's enemy, something it seems you are not. I am his father, Jor-el, or rather a good portion of what's left of him. We need your help. Something's gone wrong and we cannot communicate with Kal-el. We fear he is in danger, as a malfunction in our technology stored inside the Kawatche caves caused it to create rather _distorted_ versions of my wife and I. It is a long story. Please trust me when I say, or rather we, require your assistance."

"What do you need me to do?" Whitney asked.

"Go to the caves." Jor-el said.

"Kawatche…caves? Where are they?"

"I forget that you were absent for a long time. Here." Jor-el said.

The ship began to glow more intensely until engulfed Whitney. When it was done, he stood erect, holding his head.

"You should have all of the information you need now. Do not worry. The download will seem a little overwhelming at first, but the integration of Kal-el's blood into your system will allow you to absorb information as readily as Kal-el himself."

"Overwhelmed is definitely not the word." Whitney said.

"Quickly now, you must go. And do not tell anyone what you have learned."

"Wait. I just have one question."

The ship waited expectantly.

"Why am I weak to the red rock instead of the green then? And can this be cured?"

"Because you are still partly human." Jor-el answered. "And for the second part of your question, it is a permanent transformation, by your standards. But I will search our technology for an answer to your question. Now hurry. Kal-el needs your help."

Whitney nodded, and before the ship could settle on the ground, he was gone, yelling to Lana something about the caves, and then heading for them himself.

* * *

Clark and Chloe walked inside the caves, cautiously. First Clark poked his head around the corner, and then Chloe. What they saw was incredible. 

Martha and Jonathon were standing next to the cave wall, which was now open. A white light shimmered behind them, and they shimmered too. Clark noticed that both their eyes were glazed, like someone else had taken control. Pete was hiding in a dark spot next to Clark and Chloe. He accidentally bumped into them.

"Pete." Clark whispered. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. I came to the farm this morning to ask you something and saw your parents leaving, almost in a daze, so I followed them here."

"You came over? What for?"

Pete looked down and then back up at Clark. "I woke up early and I was practicing with my new speed, when my vision changed. I got x-ray vision, but it only happens every now and then."

Clark looked at Pete, half in shock, half expectantly.

"Alright, well we'll have to take care of it when we get home."

"If we get home." Chloe whispered.

Suddenly something dawned on Clark. "They can hear us. If they have my hearing, they can hear us."

"Oh, shit!" Chloe hissed.

All turned and the two adults were closer than ever, practically hovering over the three teens.

Jonathon spoke while Martha walked over and grabbed Chloe and Pete, bringing them into the cave wall.

"Kal-el." Jonathon said, grabbing Clark's arm, and motioning toward the cave opening. "You're coming with us, whether you like it or not."

* * *

And the plot thickens...LoL. I'm already halfway through writing the next chapter. Finally got my groove back with this story.

**Next:** Will Vera go through Clark's journal? What has happened to Clark's parents? Will Whitney get to the caves in time to save everyone? ;) Lots of questions...all answered next chapter.


	24. Normality

Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville and I'm not affiliated with it.

To reviewers: Thanks again for the compliments. To gosullivan: Truth be told, I was kind of getting annoyed with everyone having powers too, but I wasn't sure how to go about them being lost. This chapter should be pleasing in that aspect at least. Thanks as well, for the compliment about it drawing you in. That's what I aim for. DTS-00, I understand you can't read the Chlark. I'm not trying to overwhelm anyone with the pairing, but thanks for reading as much as you did, and the compliment. Thanks, T, terratasha, and Danni Halliwell for your compliments as well. Read on!

**Chapter 24**

Whitney rushed like mad, using the map Jor-el had given him to get there. He had barely yelled goodbye to Lana before zipping away from the farm.

He hoped and prayed that he would get there in time.

* * *

Lionel sat, very displeased, in his office.

"What?" he exclaimed. "How can the device be shut off?"

He thought for a minute before something dawned on him. He picked up his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?" A rough voice answered.

"I thought I made it clear that Dr. Deter was to be disposed of." Lionel practically growled.

"I had her cornered but she got away. I thought you wanted a clean kill." The man answered.

"I wanted her done away with, by any means necessary, you incompetent fool. Now I have to clean up this mess you've made." Lionel yelled, and closed his phone.

* * *

Vera sat on Clark's bed, gripping the journal firmly. She sat, staring at it for a good amount of time. Finally she sighed and laid it down.

"I can't." she said. "I just can't."

"Can't what?" asked Lana, walking into Clark's bedroom.

Vera lay the journal down. "I almost gave in to my curiosity…again. It's what caused me to be in this situation in the first place."

Lana looked suspiciously at the journal next to Dr. Deter.

"I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't trust you, but I need your help. Whitney took off quickly. Something about the caves. We need to get there."

"Caves?" Deter asked.

"Kawatche Caves. Clark is there. Get in your truck. I'll tell you how to get there."

Vera nodded and followed Lana out.

* * *

Pete, Chloe, and Clark were tied up inside the cave wall. One by one, Chloe and Pete's scars began to glow.

"What are you doing to them?" Clark asked.

"We're recreating your family on earth, Kal-el, so you never have to be lonely again." Martha said. She walked over and knelt down next to him, rubbing her hand along his face. "My baby boy. I finally get to be with you again."

Clark looked oddly at her. "Mom you have to be in there somewhere. You have to fight it."

Jonathon turned around, just as Martha fell forward a little, clutching her head. He helped her up and glared at Clark. "Silence." He said.

"Dad, don't let Jor-el do this to you! You have to be in there! I know how much you despise him! Don't let him take you over!" Clark exclaimed.

Jonathon blinked, as if understanding Clark's words, but unable to do anything about it.

Clark looked to his side. Chloe and Pete had now collapsed and their scars had stopped shining.

He sighed, wondering how he was going to get out of this one.

Meanwhile, Whitney stood in front of the caves, trying to figure out how to get in. The ship had download a lot of information but he hadn't been able to sort it all yet. It was a lot to wade through.

"Caves, caves…" Whitney said aloud. "How in the heck do I open them?"

Before he could think of answer, his hand began to glow. Confused, but understanding somewhat, he held his hand up to the octagonal recess. The symbols began to glow and turn and eventually the wall began to slide apart.

"Yes, I've done it!" Whitney thought.

Another light shot out and slammed Whitney into a wall.

He rubbed the back of his head before standing up.

"What the hell?" he said aloud.

Jonathon stood in the opening, blocking Whitney's path.

"Wha…Mr. Kent?" Whitney exclaimed.

"Jor-el." Jonathon corrected Whitney.

"So you're the imposters Jor-el was talking about." Whitney said. "Where is Clark?"

"Kal-el is safe from your inferior race." Jonathon said.

Whitney noticed a rather large scar on Jonathon's chest glowing beneath his shirt.

"What are you going to do, take over our planet? In case you haven't noticed, there's only six of you and five billion of us, and we know how to use your DNA." Whitney said, mocking him.

"We are infinitely superior to you." Jonathon said, angrily, and he quickly ran to the place Whitney was standing to try and prove that point by choking him.

But Whitney anticipated this. Making Jor-el angry was his plan. He quickly dashed out of the way and into the cave wall. Inside he saw Martha at some sort of computer terminal and Clark, Chloe and Pete tied up by some sort of white light and almost unconscious.

She looked up just as he came in. "You're not going to spoil our plans." She stated.

Clark looked up a little. "Whitney." He whispered. "The square terminal she's at. Destroy it."

Whitney heard Clark's words, and ran over to where Martha was standing. He was about to smash it when Martha, just as quickly, grabbed his hands and pushed him back. Whitney hit the wall next to Clark, denting it, but stood up. "How am I gonna get near that?" He said to himself.

"Heat vision." Clark whispered.

Whitney looked down, but didn't ask questions. Clark was much more experienced at this than he was, and by this time Jor-el had walked back in, so he didn't have much choice. He did what Clark told him. The terminal began to smoke and break down, sending sparks everywhere. Jonathon and Martha headed over to protect it, but it was too late, the machine had successfully burned out.

At this point, Jonathon and Martha quickly fell to the floor, unconscious, but Whitney caught them before they could hit their heads. The light keeping Chloe, Clark, and Pete immobile faded.

Clark stood up, looking much better.

"Are you ok?" Whitney asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Clark said, brushing dust off.

"No problem."

"Now, first things first." Clark said, walking over and smashing the computer to bits. "I wanted to make sure it was _completely_ unable to function this time."

"There was a last time?" Whitney asked.

"Yes." Clark said with a frown, giving the machine one last kick. "And I won't make the same mistake twice."

After making sure most of the computer was in bits, Clark had a question for Whitney.

"How'd you know to come here? How'd you even know we were in trouble?"

Whitney took a deep breath. "Your…ship…downloaded some information into me. Jor-el said you were in trouble."

Clark's jaw almost hit the ground. "Want to run that by me again?"

"It's a lot to process. My head's been spinning since it happened. Got to respect you, Kent, if you can keep this all straight in your head."

"How'd you get in?" Clark asked, now curious.

Whitney held up his right hand, which now had the same symbols as the octagonal disk, and in the same shape.

"Geez, Whitney, even I can't do that."

Whitney shrugged.

Suddenly Chloe and Pete's eyes opened quickly, glazed over like Jonathon's and Martha's were.

"Kal-el, don't you want to be with your family on Earth?" Chloe's possessed form asked. "It's me, the one you're destined to be with! Our marriage was arranged when we were children!"

Clark looked at her with disgust. "There has to be another terminal around here somewhere." He said. "And Pete, I don't even want to know what part of my supposed family on Earth you're supposed to be."

Clark looked down to notice a blinking circular piece, as tiny as the CPU of a computer. He quickly smashed it with his foot.

Chloe's eyes went back to normal and so did Pete's.

"Clark? What happened? Where are we?" Chloe asked. She then put her hands in her hair to notice it had returned to its normal length.

Pete was too busy rubbing his head to ask anything. "Man, that is one _splitting_ headache." He announced.

"Wait a minute, you're getting a headache?" Clark asked.

As if on cue, the scars that plagued the three teens and Clark's parents began to disappear, without pain, unlike last time.

The cave began to glow in white light around the six, and a voice started to speak.

"Kal-el, you should be safe now." Jor-el said. "With the power supply and the main body of that computer damaged it won't hurt you anymore. Lara and I will create a completely new one."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Clark said.

"I assure you, Kal-el, it will be brand new. We recently discovered it wasn't the computer that was defective in the first place."

"But I thought?" Clark said.

"We thought it was defective, but didn't think there was another underlying cause. Our diagnostics show that a kryptonian computer virus corrupted it before it left our planet. I recall now that in our hurry to send you from our dying planet, we did not have time to scan the AI before it left in the ship with you. Without our knowledge, by the time the trip to Earth was complete, it had corrupted the AI terminal so much that the only way to stop it was to destroy it."

Clark didn't know what to say. "So everything that's happened to me is because of a Kryptonian computer virus?" he said. "Unbelievable."

"Whitney. Thank you for helping us." Jor-el went on to say. "I hope the download wasn't too much for your nervous system."

Whitney nodded. It was still hard to believe this was real.

"I have found a solution to your problem." Jor-el said. "We can restore you to the way you were before Lionel tampered with your physiology, if you'd still like."

Whitney's eyes betrayed his feelings. He had started to get used to having abilities, but he would always rather be his normal self.

"That is the best news I've heard all day." He said. "But can I hold off for a few days? Clark and I have something to take care of."

Clark looked at him, confused, but then realized that Whitney was talking about the plan to delete Lionel's files on him.

"Take as long as you need. Come back with Kal-el when you're ready." Jor-el said.

With that, the light stopped.

Martha and Jonathon began to sit up.

"I just had the weirdest dream." Martha said.

"It wasn't a dream, Mom." Clark said.

Jonathon stood up, helping Martha up too. He noticed all of the scars had disappeared.

"It wasn't pleasant, but you did it Clark. You stopped it."

"Actually it was Whitney." Clark admitted.

Everyone turned to look in Whitney's direction. The attention began to embarrass him, and he quickly shifted the subject.

"Clark how come you were almost out of it?" Whitney asked.

"The light that comes from the caves hurts me a lot." Clark admitted. "They blasted me with some of that, and those 'ropes' were made of the same light."

"Well, now that we're all back to normal." Chloe said, on a lighter note. "At least I won't be ruining any more footballs."

"Ha ha, yeah." Clark admitted. "Shouldn't we be…leaving before someone sees this?"

"Clark's right." Jonathon said. "The last thing we need is yet another person to stumble upon this."

There was a murmur and everyone filed out of the cave opening. Clark was the last one. Before he left, however, he bent down next to the computer and grabbed a small, octagonal shaped disk from the debris. It read 'backup' in Kryptonian. Clark quickly pocketed it, to be safe, and joined everyone. The wall began to close slowly.

Whitney stood outside the opening, looking at the symbols. Chloe noticed his eyes falling over them quickly.

"Whitney, are you ok?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah. I just…wow. There's so much information here, on this wall. I never would've thought. I just thought they were funny looking symbols."

Jonathon looked at Whitney strangely. "You mean you can read it?"

"Now I can."

Jonathon, Martha, Chloe and Pete looked at him with interest.

"Shouldn't you be able to read it too?" Whitney asked.

"No, that disappeared when we returned to normal." Pete said.

"We have company." Martha announced just as Lana bounded down the tunnel to the opening where everyone was standing, a young female scientist behind her.

Lana was quickly bombarded with questions about who the woman was, but she managed to get out of the ruckus with a question of her own.

"Whitney! Are you ok?" She asked frantically.

"Yes, I'm fine Lana. Everyone's doing fine." Whitney said, embracing Lana as she came to him for a hug. He kissed her on the forehead and let her linger in his arms.

Pete looked down at the ground, shifting his weight slowly from one foot to the other. Clark noticed the shuffling motion and looked at Pete, noting the obvious sadness, disappointment, and envy in his face.

"That's the Lana I know." He thought. "Big on disappointments."

Apparently Chloe noticed the same.

"It's ok Pete. I know what it feels like." Chloe said. "It'll work out. I promise."

Pete's eyes betrayed his feelings, but he quickly pulled himself together and regained composure. "I'm fine," he lied.

Jonathon, ever the protector of his family, asked again who the young woman was.

"That's Dr. Deter. It's a long story, Mr. Kent." Lana explained, pulling away from Whitney. "She wanted to see Clark. She helped Whitney and I escape from the lab we were in."

Jonathon opened his mouth to ask more, but thought the better of it. He'd find out soon enough.

"You're Clark?" Vera asked, pointing directly to the figure, which indeed was Clark Kent.

"Yes." Clark responded.

"You're in grave danger." Vera said, pulling out what appeared to be ten folded sheets of computer paper, with lab files and computer data. "Lionel has had us using samples of your blood to integrate with the blood and DNA of unwilling human test subjects. He's had us use different methods: injection of the blood, along with liquid meteor rock, and also immersion in a liquid form of the meteor rock, with constant exposure to a blood sample. Here are the documents. Each test subject has had different results. I didn't have time to clear the labs of the information, only to print it off. And even so, this is only partial. I can't clear access to the rest of the information, which I assume are Lionel's files on you, Clark."

Clark stood back, astounded by what Vera had just told him.

"Oh no, I thought the sample was destroyed before Morgan died." Clark muttered.

"Son?" Jonathon asked.

Vera cleared her throat. "Exactly what is so important about your blood, Clark?" she asked curiously.

Clark looked weary. "I can't tell you." He said.

"I already know it gives you super-human abilities of some sort. Those were common in the test subjects. Lionel hoped through our tests we would discover a way to cure his liver disease."

"Why did you come to tell me this?" Clark asked. "Why help?"

"Because I can't go on experimenting on innocent people anymore."

Clark raised his eyebrow. "So you just…decided all of a sudden that testing on people isn't for you?" he asked skeptically.

"I'm not asking you to trust me." Vera said. "I just came to warn you."

Clark looked at the sheets in his hand. One had Lana's name on it, along with her stats. His eyes bugged out as he skimmed through the facts that had been laid before him.

"Lana, what?" he asked.

"I was kidnapped, Clark, and experimented on in a lab." Lana said. "I didn't want anyone to know. I felt so helpless."

"And Whitney knew what you felt like." Pete muttered under his breath.

All of a sudden Lana froze, looking at Whitney. Her expression held that of a person who had no control over their own actions, although she seemed to be trying to fight back.

"Oh no!" Vera exclaimed. "Our twenty minutes are up."

"You've got a lot of explaining to do." Jonathon said.

* * *

Lionel walked into his office, immediately noticing that the blinking 'device off' message had disappeared off his laptop. He gave a small smile, and typed in the access code. 


End file.
